Warwickshire Police Specials Chief Officer receives MBE

A Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) has been presented to the Chief Officer of Warwickshire Police’s Special Constabulary.

Katherine Hancock was officially recognised as part of the Queen’s New Year Honours List towards the end of 2020 but owing to the global COVID pandemic, she could not receive the award in person.

After almost 18 months, Katherine finally collected the accolade from Prince Charles during a special ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday (3 May).

Katherine has served in the Special Constabulary for almost three decades, becoming the Specials Chief Officer in 2019.

An integral member of the force’s Local Policing command team, she has worked on everything from serious investigations to incident response and problem solving within local neighbourhoods.

Katherine is always proactive in ensuring the Special Constabulary play a key part in daily policing within Warwickshire.

She has been pivotal in co-ordinating Specials policing of the night-time economy and work with the force’s roads policing teams.

Highlights from Katherine’s career while in her frontline voluntary policing role include: the Olympic Torch relay, Warwickshire’s ‘Global Gathering’ festival, coordinating support for The Ryder Cup, and the Queen’s visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Prior to this latest award, the pinnacle of Katherine’s career to date had been spearheading a campaign to raise £6,000 to secure a memorial stone for Special Constables at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

And in addition to the MBE, her contribution has been acknowledged at a force level by two Chief Constable Commendations while she also finds time to be an adult leader with Girlguiding UK.

Warwickshire Police Chief Constable Debbie Tedds said: “I am delighted that Katharine’s tremendous contribution as a volunteer to policing in Warwickshire has been recognised.

“Her long term commitment to both the force and her work with Girlguiding UK mean she is truly deserving of this personal accolade

“I would like to thank Katherine for her dedicated years of service to our communities. The Special Constabulary is an essential part of modern policing and the work which Katherine and her team do is invaluable.

“We are immensely proud of her achievement and all the work done by our Special Constabulary colleagues.”

After receiving her MBE, Specials Chief Officer Katherine Hancock said she was surprised but extremely happy.

She added: “When I joined the Specials back in 1993, I was hoping to be able to give something back to my community.

“Although I never expected to be here for almost 30 years, I am very proud to have been a part of the Warwickshire Police family and I continue to love every opportunity this brings to help others.

“I feel extremely privileged to lead the Specials team we have, who dedicate tens of thousands of hours of their time to protecting people in our county.

“Over the years I have met a tremendous number of people and made some incredible memories and I look forward to this continuing in both my Specials role and within Girlguiding in the future.”

Issued: Laura Maltby, Corporate Communications