A policewoman who has dedicated her time to increasing school attendance and reducing family violence in South Hedland has been named police officer of the year.
Sergeant Shelley Marklew has led a joint agency initiative focused on reducing juvenile offending by working with families to help get children to school and encouraging them to turn up every day.
Her work has also developed trusted relationships within the Hedland community, leading to an increased willingness to report family violence incidents and increased public confidence in the local police team.
Officers from Derby Police Station took out the team category, recognised for their genuine desire to build positive relationships within the local community and their commitment to keeping residents safe in a challenging policing environment.
Police Minister Michelle Roberts announced the winners at an awards breakfast for the finalists at Crown Perth this morning.
A total of 55 individual officers were nominated for the police officer award category, including 29 officers from the metropolitan area and 26 from regional Western Australia.
Eleven police teams were nominated from regional WA, while 20 teams from Perth received nominations.
Nominations are received from community members, sporting groups, schools, local government, family members and colleagues.
As stated by Police Minister Michelle Roberts:
“These awards have become an important tradition in the WA Police Force to honour those who go above and beyond.
“The fact that this year 136 nominations were received, says so much about the value that we, as a community, place on the work of our police officers.
“On behalf of the State Government, I want to thank all of our police officers for your commitment to duty and putting that duty ahead and above of yourself day in and day out.”
