An officer who hasn’t taken a single day off sick since he joined the Constabulary 13 years ago was crowned Police Community Support Officer of the Year at this year’s Chief Constable’s awards.
PCSO Daniel McManus, from the Hemel North, Rural, West and Central Safer Neighbourhood Team, was chosen as the winner after being nominated by three separate colleagues.
Daniel, who looks after the Boxmoor and Chaulden wards of the town, has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to local policing ever since he joined the force in September 2006.
Colleagues describe him as a team player with a great work ethic, and say he is always willing to go the extra mile.
One of Daniel’s career highlights includes being instrumental in setting up and running Dacorum’s hugely successful Mini Police scheme, which has been in place since September 2018.
Ten primary schools have already benefited from the eight-week course and there is a waiting list of others wanting to take part.
Daniel, who joined the force when he was 28, put together bespoke lesson plans to include an input on water safety from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and arranged the children’s final reward week to involve a fire station visit, a presentation from forensic crime scene officers and input from volunteers on the RAPPAW scheme.
He also set up the Dacorum Mini Police Facebook page, which is regularly updated with news and photos from the team’s latest courses.
After graffiti was identified as a local policing priority, Daniel patrolled his wards on foot while taking photographs and compiling them on a database which he then passed on to the local authority for removal.
Thanks to his fantastic working relationship with neighbourhood coordinators, Daniel was able to enlist their help and received a thank you from the council’s Community Safety Manager.
Daniel’s passion for policing means he is always happy to attend information and recruitment events, often in his own time, to speak to people thinking of joining up.
Organisers have often praised Daniel’s professional manner when speaking to the public.
This year Daniel, who lives in the nearby St Albans area, has also organised three successful community engagement days in Hemel Hempstead town centre where he and colleagues canvassed the general public for their thoughts on local issues.
The information gathered is then used to shape local policing priorities for officers to problem-solve.
Speaking after being presented with his award, PCSO McManus said: “I would like to thank my colleague and two sergeants who all nominated me for this prestigious award.
“I have worked with a number of very hard working colleagues and partners at Hertfordshire Constabulary and it is a pleasure to serve all the people that live, work and enjoy Boxmoor, Chaulden and Hemel Hempstead as a whole.”
Sergeant Karen Mellor, who was one of three people who nominated the PCSO, said: “Daniel is everything you could wish for in an officer. He’s professional and hard-working, with a fierce motivation to provide the best service to residents, partners and businesses within his ward and a result they all know who their local officer is.
“He is a very experienced member of the team and his guidance is invaluable. He’s always willing to take new starters under his wing and he gives good advice, with a reassuring and approachable nature.
“Daniel is fully deserving of this award for his continuous dedication to the community in Dacorum. Nothing is ever too much trouble for him and he is a credit to the Constabulary.”
Daniel has been previously nominated for the annual Frank Mason Memorial Award, a prestigious accolade bestowed to a different Dacorum officer each year who mirrors late PC Mason’s qualities of dedication, professionalism and selflessness in protecting the community.
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