Bury Special Constable named as Special Officer of the Year

Bury-based Special Constable Adam Duffy has been labelled as GMP’s Special Officer of the Year.

Special Constable Duffy was presented with the award at the Chief Constable’s Annual Awards held at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Friday 13 October.

Adam Duffy has been a Special Constable for over 11 years, serving all of his time in GMP’s Bury district. He has always been a very well-respected and valued member of the team.

However, his dedication and commitment has reached a new level in recent years and he has developed his own operational knowledge and competence by working alongside a mixture of regular and special constable colleagues on both Response and Neighbourhood policing, always endeavouring to learn more, making notes, self-teaching at home, attending courses and much more.

Specials are required to complete a minimum of 16 duty hours per month, but despite his demanding day job, over the past 12 months Special Constable Duffy has done nearly double that, dedicating an average of 30 hours on duty per month to supporting Bury’s communities.

Adam Duffy

As a result of all this, he has established himself as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Special Constables at Bury. He uses a vast amount of knowledge and experience to mentor and tutor newly recruited Special Constables to the highest standard.

He has designed training packages for the Specials, running multiple evening training sessions to upskill new and serving Specials on various law subjects and incidents they are likely to attend.

Adam has also introduced a weekly operational tutoring shift, inviting Special colleagues to work alongside him to develop their skills.

Special Constable Adam Duffy, said: “Winning this award means a huge amount to me. It is absolutely one of the highlights of my life and is very much appreciated.

“There are so many brilliant Special Constables, police officers and staff across GMP that I feel in awe of, so to be recognised amongst them for my contribution in this way makes me feel massively proud.

“I’ve been a Special Constable for nearly 12 years, and get so much life experience from the role, as well as fantastic training opportunities and the opportunity to learn from GMP’s many talented officers every week.

“Volunteering is something I always wanted to do for selfless reasons, and being recognised like this is something I never expected.

“It feels brilliant to be part of an organisation that takes time to recognise all the great stuff that goes on throughout the year in GMP.

“It was amazing to hear about the many fantastic things that the other individuals and teams nominated have done and achieved, and I feel proud and humbled to have been recognised alongside them.

“Being recognised and appreciated in this way has made me want to carry on volunteering for another 11-and-a-half years, and I would like to thank all the Specials at Bury for everything they do.”

Chief Superintendent Chris Hill of GMP’s Bury District, said: “The award is certainly well deserved following his lengthy and distinguished service in the Special Constabulary, which consists of volunteer officers who give up their spare time to assist with the policing of Greater Manchester, increase the effectiveness of local police initiatives, help to prevent crime and interact with the diverse communities GMP serves.

“Adam’s passion and drive to make Greater Manchester a safer place is so well appreciated and this award showcases just that.

“Specials Constables are so valuable to our communities; they give up their free time to assist their regular police officers with their work.

Special Constable Duffy adds: “I’m proud of sticking with the role for as long as I have. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve enjoyed every second and really grown as a person.

“I’m appreciative of all the officers and supervisors at Bury whom I work with and support myself and other Special Constables to integrate within the Bury division.

“My partner sacrifices our time together every week so that I can volunteer to benefit others in our community so I would like to say a big thank you to my partner.

“Building my knowledge has given me the confidence for a long career as a Special, and I now try really hard to give back by supporting others in getting the right start and support they need.”