A woman who has helped hundreds of vulnerable people in police custody has been named as Essex’s top community safety hero.
Yvonne Weinling has volunteered with the Clacton Appropriate Adults Service for 11 years and supports, advises and cares for young and vulnerable people while they are in custody.
She was nominated by Clacton custody Sergeant Dave Beverley, and was chosen by Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston to win the first ever Outstanding Contribution to Community Safety award.
Mr Alston presented Yvonne with a trophy at his annual conference, and also gave her £500 to support her community work.
He said: “Yvonne really is a worthy winner. It can be extremely daunting for a young person or vulnerable adult when they are taken into police custody.
“Yvonne truly does go above and beyond to provide advice to those in her care.”
Other winners included Jenny Stocking from Essex Police for her work over the past six years developing and expanding the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, which trains other officials to tackle issues such as littering and anti-social behaviour.
She was nominated by Chief Inspector Craig Carrington for her work, and was highly commended.
Also highly commended was the Clacton division of the Essex Fire Cadets, nominated by their leader Karl Amos for their volunteering work.
Both projects received £250 from the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Mr Alston added: “As I read all of the nominations I was very humbled to see the great community safety work being carried out by so many individuals in our county.
“They really are community heroes and they make an enormous contribution to helping keep our communities safe.”
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