| At 2049 hours on 20th of April 1998, a taxi driver contacted the police to report that a young female was sitting on the edge of an overhead railway bridge. Officers were immediately despatched to the scene. Reports from patrols arriving at the scene revealed that innitial attempts to talk the girl down had been unsuccessful. Traffic on the road below was stopped, railway authorities advised of the incident. Force negotiators were called out and fire and ambulance services deployed to the scene. One of the Officers that arrived at the scene, was Special Constable Berry. Due to the perceived urgency of the situation she tried to speak the girl down, who at the time was sitting on the edge of the bridge in the centre. She was in an instigated state and rocking backwards and forth on the bridge and if she had fallen, there was every likelihood that it would have been a fatal fall. Special Constable Berry, through her calm and friendly approach, managed to innitiate a conversation. The girl confided that things had been building up for some time and that she wanted to do. Although she became emotional, and for a while failed to respond, the officer persisted and managed to persuade the girl to take a cigarette. Further attempts to establish a rapport were eventually successful and the girl began to talk openly about her problems. Special Constable Berry spoke to her in a calm, sensitive and common sense way. Finally through this approach she managed to get the girl to come down from this precarious situation. Her efforts may be seen as a routine part of any of her job as a special constable, however in this event,they were outstanding and worthy of a nomination of the Keith Binks Trophy this year, and was judged by the panel as the winner for 1998. |
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| The Keith Binks Trophy is awarded annually for service or dedication to duty, some outstanding act by a Special Constable. |
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