Bury staff member working to deliver best possible service to victims sees success at the National Police Staff Awards

Thursday, 13 March 2025 16:50

By David Murphy

Hazel Parry receiving her award from Sir Andy Marsh, Chief Executive Officer of the College of Policing

Hazel was invited to attend the National Senior Police Staff Network event on the 6 March 2025, as part of the annual week of celebration of police staff at the College of Policing site.

- Hazel Parry, Victims’ Services Co-Ordinator for Bury, has received a ‘Highly Commended’ award in the Police Staff Unsung Hero category at the National Police Staff Awards 2025.

- The mission of the Victims’ Services team is to ensure that GMP provides the best possible service to all victims of crime across Greater Manchester and that the force takes a victim-centred approach.

- During the last 18 months, Bury officers made over 4,000 referrals to Greater Manchester Victims’ Services, and Bury officers used an internal toolkit almost 3,900 times to signpost victims to wider support services.

Nominations for the inaugural National Police Staff recognition awards were sought at the end of 2024 and Hazel was nominated by a colleague.

Hazel said: “I was blown away by my nomination, it was an uplifting event and it’s nice to be recognised by your colleagues and peers.

“I felt extremely honoured to have been an award winner at the very first National Police Staff Awards. It was amazing to see all the great work being done by police staff across the UK.”

Hazel was one of the original Victim Service Coordinators when GMP launched the group in 2017. The mission of the Victims’ Services team is to ensure that GMP provides the best possible service to all victims of crime across Greater Manchester and that the force takes a victim-centred approach.

The key objectives are to ensure a victim’s rights are met at every opportunity and to work with partners to embed effective support services and materials to enable a victim to cope and recover from the crime they have experienced. Much of this work also includes supporting those who witness or experience crime in any way.

During the last 18 months, Bury officers made over 4,000 referrals to Greater Manchester Victims’ Services, and Bury officers used an internal toolkit almost 3,900 times to signpost victims to wider support services.

Hazel has also studied countless hours of body-worn video of Bury victims, to hold our officers to the highest standards of victim interaction. She sought to celebrate the successes of our officers, while also highlighting areas of improvement and sent out detailed praise and feedback.

We are the only police force to have dedicated Victims’ Service Coordinators supporting police and external partners to understand delivery of the Victims’ Code.

The team have been supporting district and branch commanders for over six years to identify and address gaps in victims’ service and support. Working in collaboration with internal and external partners, they assist with quality assurance and front-line delivery to victims and communities affected by crime.

When the event organisers wrote to Hazel to inform her of her success, they said: “The quality and number of nominations for this inaugural awards event was exceptional, with over 1,100 initial nominations across the seven categories. Therefore, to have been Highly Commended is a very significant achievement and you should rightly be very proud.”

More information about the Victims’ Code can be found here The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime in England and Wales and supporting public information materials - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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