Top MPS honour for ‘incredible’ bravery of PC Keith Palmer

Police Constable Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death when he confronted attacker Khalid Masood outside the Houses of Parliament last March, was named the winner of the Outstanding Bravery of the Year prize at the Met Excellence Awards.

The 48-year-old Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer came face-to-face with Masood, armed with two large knives, moments after the terrorist drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge – killing five people and injuring around 50 others.

The married officer, with a five-year-old daughter, was fatally wounded in the incident, which came to a close when Masood was shot dead by armed officers.

PC Palmer had been part of the MPS’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Group since 2016. He had previously served in Bromley and Catford in south-east London.

He “gave his life protecting Parliament doing a job he loved,” MPS Commissioner Cressida Dick said during the ceremony on Friday (March 9).

In June 2017 it was announced the Queen was to honour PC Palmer with the George Medal for bravery in the civilian gallantry list.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood was also honoured at the London ceremony, and was given an Outstanding Contribution award for his desperate efforts to save PC Palmer.

Mr Ellwood, a former soldier, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and applied pressure to stanch the flow of blood from his wounds.

He said PC Palmer was “an incredible man”, adding: “I say this on behalf of every parliamentarian – we never expect to hear shots fired in Parliament, in the mother of all democracies.

“PC Keith Palmer gave the ultimate sacrifice and we in Parliament are forever indebted for that sacrifice.”

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was “absolutely fitting” that PC Palmer and the outstanding bravery he showed have been honoured in this way.

Earlier this week dozens of MPs backed proposals to rename Parliament’s Carriage Gates entrance after PC Palmer.

An Early Day Motion tabled by Labour MP Matt Western asking for the entrance to be renamed ‘Palmer Gates’ in his honour has been signed 114 times.

Mr Western believes the gesture would recognise the officer’s “gallantry and ultimate sacrifice”, and acknowledge the Government’s “profound gratitude”.

The Warwick and Leamington MP is calling for the Gates to be renamed on March 22 – the first anniversary of the attack.

Other winners at the Met Excellence Awards included PC Philip Stone, who was named the Police Officer of the Year.

PC Stone co-ordinates the work of the MPS’s Disaster Victim Identification Cadre, which organises the national and international recovery and identification of human remains for the coroner to repatriate them to their families.

The cadre is deployed at short notice and works in the most challenging environments. The role is physically and mentally demanding, and PC Stone has worked tirelessly for funding for equipment and training.

Last year, PC Stone coordinated the response to five different events, including terrorist attacks and human disasters across the UK. In 2017, his teams recovered more than 110 bodies, and all have been positively identified and repatriated to their families.

Proudly going home with the Investigation of the Year Award was Detective Constable Hannah Stewart from the East Region Child Abuse Investigation Team.

Det Con Stewart led a time sensitive, logistically challenging investigation into a child sexual abuse offence. The victim had Motor Neurone disease, with a life expectancy of less than six months, and was no longer able to speak.

The officer arranged for a specialist neurologist consultant to act as an intermediary between her and the victim. She arranged for a private company to install specialist technology that would let the victim give evidence by blinking – a first in the UK.

The Judge commented on Det Con Stewart’s innovation to ensure the victim was able to provide evidence. Tragically, on the day of the verdict, the victim sadly passed away, not knowing that the suspect had been convicted.

Trident’s Operation Viper Team won the Operational / Specialist Team of the Year Award. The Operation Viper team is the MPS’s response to the increase in firearm crime.

In its first four months, the team executed more than 100 warrants, recovered 80 firearms, arrested more than 400 suspects and seized £120,000 in cash as well as vast amounts of drugs, ammunition and imitation firearms.

The Building a Better Met Award went to the Body Worn Video Project Team. To improve public confidence in police and the MPS’s accountability and transparency, the team successfully issued more than 21,000 cameras across 150 locations in 2017 – the largest global roll out of body worn cameras.

The cameras have already been issued to officers across the 32 boroughs, the Roads and Transport Policing Command, the Territorial Support Group, Marine Policing Unit, Dog Support Unit, Aviation Policing and specialist crime units.

At this time, the MPS is the only UK force digitally sharing BWV footage with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Since the roll-out, officers have recorded just over 1.6 million videos, and now routinely submit around 4,500 clips a month to the CPS. The benefits of which have led to speedier justice and helped save valuable officer time, who are no longer required to burn footage onto multiple discs to submit footage as evidence.

Ms Dick said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my first Met Excellence Awards as commissioner. It was wonderful to see so many officers, staff, volunteers and community members at the event and to hear their stories. The awards provide a great opportunity to showcase some of the extraordinary effort that goes into protecting Londoners and making our city safer for everyone.

“Thank you to all the men and women of the Met who give so much for London every single day.”

The complete list of award winners are:

– Bravery Award: PC Keith Palmer

– Outstanding Contribution: Tobias Ellwood MP

– Police Staff of the Year: Claire Summers – National Digital Exploitation Service (NDES), SO15

– Police Officer of the Year: PC Philip Stone – Disaster Victim Identification Coordinator, SC&O

– Support Team of the Year: Human Resources Major Incident Support Team – People & Change, Met HQ Operations Support Team – Property Services, Met HQ

– Operational / Specialist Team of the Year: Operation Viper Team – Trident and Area Crime Command (SCO8)

– Investigation of the Year: Det Con Hannah Stewart – East Region Child Abuse Investigation Team, Territorial Policing

– Safer Neighbourhoods Team of the Year (public vote): Tooting Safer Neighbourhoods Team

– Special Constable of the Year (public vote): Shane Clarke – Met Special Constabulary (MSC), Barnet borough

– Volunteer of the Year: Jenny Haughian – Paddington and West End Central, Westminster Borough

– Cadet of the Year: Nabil Laasid – Kensington & Chelsea Borough

The other shortlisted cadets – Victoria Sullivan, Hollie Osborn and Matthew Hollis – were all highly commended and received trophies at the ceremony.

– Victim Care Award: Det Con Nicky Dawes – Central North Command Unit Safeguarding Team

– The Met Citizen Award (for members of the public): Sally Burnikell – Newham Borough

– Building a Better Met Award: Body Worn Video Project Team – MPS HQ

– Special Recognition Award:

North Resourcing Hub – SCO22, SC&O
PC Tony Marchant – Aviation Policing, SO
Sgt Andrew Pettet – Newham borough
PC Ceyhun Uzun – Westminster borough
Cherie Rosario – Multi agency safeguarding hubs (MASH), Brent borough