6:53pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Hayley Court
THE unsung heroes of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board have been recognised on the Local Justice Awards roll of honour.
The Wiltshire Local Justice Awards formally recognise the people behind the scenes who have exceeded normal duties in order to deliver an effective service within Wiltshire and Swindon.
The board, which incorporates the courts, probation service, prison service and other areas of criminal justice in the county, handed out the awards to Swindon to police officer Tim Steed, probation manager Tom Weedon and Swindon’s Drugs and Alcohol Action Team for their work in the community, at the Corn Exchange, Devizes.
Sgt Steed was awarded the honour for his dedication to Swindon’s Youth Offending Team in tackling youth crime.
He was nominated by colleague Julian Riches, who said: “Tim is an all round performer but it is his work on his bespoke intervention programmes like his weapons group and his driving offences group that earned him this nomination.
“Both programmes have been a success in combating youth crime and seen as excellent examples of good practice.”
Mr Weedon was nominated by Wiltshire Probation Assistant Chief Officer Mike Hazeltine in the Working with Offenders category.
He said: “Tom’s public protection role as an offender manager has entailed a considerable amount of personal time and resource. It has involved availing himself outside of usual working hours, and maintaining a flexible and conscientious approach throughout.”
The Swindon Drugs and Alcohol Action Team – Matthew Hibbert, Sean Manuel and Gill Cavewer e– was nominated by Swindon Community Safety Partnership manager Richard Palusinski in the category of Partnership Working.
Mr Palusinski said: “This team has been nominated for energetically tackling drug misuse, turning lives around, providing a future and hope for offenders, and supporting them to address their drug misuse.
“As a result, there has been a significant improvement in performance, meaning a better service is offered to drug users.”
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