Staff at police headquarters who man the force’s contact centre were recognised for their service to the community last week.

An awards ceremony took place at Wiltshire Police HQ in Devizes to reward a number of contact management staff.

More than 50 people from the emergency contact centre, force contact centre and front counter services were presented with certificates and awards. The awards were presented by Superintendent Nick Ashley and included departmental commendations, certificates of merit, customer excellence and NVQ awards.

Two of the awards presented were in relation to an innovative partnership with local social enterprise Pluss, an organisation that helps people with disabilities into work.

Wiltshire Police has been working with Pluss since 2010 and has developed a programme with the call handling centre to train disabled people looking for work.

Central call handling supervisor, Sinead Griffey, was awarded a certificate of merit for the support she was able to offer her team member, Samantha Milnes, in order to mentor a Pluss customer, Robert Stevens.

The other award was a departmental commendation, awarded to Ms Milnes. She spent a number of weeks providing one-to-one training to Mr Stevens to prepare him for the recruitment process and has continued to act as a mentor to him and other Pluss customers.

Mr Stevens has a visual impairment and epilepsy which the force was able to accommodate with special software via Access to Work.

Ms Milnes said: “It’s been a really positive experience, and Pluss has been fantastic. I’ve really appreciated the support of managers within the contact centre, specifically Superintendent Charlie Armstrong and John Flynn.

“Their help, advice, time and investment in Robert is excellent.”