A senior Greater Manchester Police detective is to be recognised in the 2026 New Year Honours for his work supporting victims and bereaved families following major incidents and complex deaths.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jon Chadwick, GMP’s head of serious crime, will receive the King’s Policing Medal after being nominated for what was described as his exceptional contribution to disaster victim identification, known as DVI.
DCS Chadwick has held senior leadership roles in DVI at a regional level for several years and is highly regarded nationally for his expertise and operational experience.
He has worked extensively with the College of Policing and UKDVI to train senior officers on the Senior Identification Manager course, drawing on learning from deployments including the Manchester Arena attack and the COVID 19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, DCS Chadwick acted as GMP lead for the multi agency death planning team. He led the force response to excess deaths and ensured community deaths continued to be attended while preventing mortuary capacity from being exceeded.
That approach was later replicated across Greater Manchester and more widely, and was recognised as a benchmark for good practice during a period of extreme pressure on public services.
Within GMP, he has also encouraged the wider use of DVI principles in other categories of death, including road traffic collisions and fires. This has resulted in more officers being trained in DVI processes and greater use of Senior Identification Managers working alongside senior investigating officers.
Speaking about the honour, DCS Chadwick said, “To be recognised in this way is a real honour and privilege for me. I’ve worked at GMP for 32 years and have been lucky enough to be a detective for 29 of them.”
He added, “Victims are at the heart of what we do in policing, and I have always been committed to public service and to doing the best that we can for the families and loved ones of people who’ve lost their lives in such tragic circumstances.”
Reflecting on the personal significance of the honour, he said, “I have the best job in the force, so to be awarded the KPM for doing something I love doing feels extremely fortunate and somewhat surreal.”
He added, “I am seldom moved by anything in life, but this is something that will always mean a great deal to me and my family, and I will be popular with my children for a short time if they get to go to Buckingham Palace.”
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