On 26 November 2007, PCs TEMPLE, NORTHMORE and PCSO LAWRENCE entered the sea to reach an injured female who was lying on an exposed reef off Wembury Beach, South Devon.

For some 80 minutes after entering the water, they remained with the casualty whilst maritime rescue services and a Military Search and Rescue Helicopter were scrambled.

On two occasions during that time they had to manually move the casualty to prevent her being overcome by the rising tide, this could only be achieved by their own repeated submersion in the sea. In the minutes prior to the arrival of the helicopter and with the swiftly rising tide, serious consideration was being given to manually support the casualty, who was now on a stretcher, above the officers' heads and so keep her above the water. At this point they were all in the water to their chests and it is estimated that the reef would have been completely submerged within 15 minutes.

The rescue was conducted some 100m from the shore, in an increasing strong sea swell and failing light. Throughout this period they operated in a hostile environment of severe discomfort due to the penetrating cold and also the sharp and abrasive surface of the reef, which they were constantly pushed against due to the action of the wave and tide.

On completion of the rescue the officers were recovered by the inshore launches to shore where they were treated, for exposure to the water and the effects of cold. All three members of staff acted selflessly for the good of the casualty, in an extremely challenging and uncomfortable environment .

At 1520 hours on Wednesday 26 th December 2007, PC Peter Gannon was on duty in Bootle, Merseyside, when a call was received to say that a female was in the Leeds Liverpool Canal that runs through Bootle. PC Gannon went to the scene and when he arrived noticed that the female was submerged under a bridge over the canal having jumped in.

Constable Gannon immediately entered into the Canal and swam to the female where he was able to drag her back to the bank, and unassisted he managed to lift her out of the water. By this stage she was unconscious and had stopped breathing so he had to carry out resuscitation techniques upon her prior to the arrival of colleagues, who then assisted in reviving her. The female has made a full recovery. However, Constable Gannon was subsequently admitted to Hospital to receive treatment for an illness that he acquired as a result of being immersed in the canal water.

Clearly the actions of PC Gannon saved the life of the female that night and it is to his credit that he acted within the best traditions of the service, acting selflessly in immediately entering the water to perform the rescue .

Around lunchtime on Monday 13th August 2007, on the first day of their holiday, Darren Schofield and his wife Alison were walking along Llangenith Beach on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales when his attention was drawn to two females stood at the waters-edge frantically looking out to sea.

As they got closer he heard that one was repeatedly shouting the boy's name and running in and out of the water. At the time there was a significant swell on the sea and numerous people in wetsuits were surfing and body boarding. The woman obviously needed help, as there was no lifeguard cover on the beach. Speaking with her, Darren found out that her 12 year old son, who had been 'boarding' in the shallows with a friend had suddenly without warning, been swept out of his depth and carried by the strong undercurrent out to sea.

From the waters-edge, Darren managed to spot him between the waves, approximately 50 metres from the beach. He was clearly having difficulty keeping his head above the surf and kept disappearing from view. So whilst his wife stayed with the boy's mother - who was in the process of dialling 999 - he promptly entered the sea. The water was cold but the swim out was relatively straight forward as Darren strived to keep sight of the boy having difficulty in the surf. On reaching the boy Darren found him very anxious, out of breath and struggling to stay afloat.

Treading water, Darren first sought to reassure him by telling him he was a Police Officer and would get him back to the beach safely. In doing so the boy stopped flailing his arms about long enough for Darren to lift him onto his back and turn back toward the shore. His added weight slowed their progress, especially as the waves continued to break over their heads. But signalling to Alison that they were OK, Darren eventually managed to get the boy back to the shallows where, they were both then able to walk the rest of the way out of the water. The boy's family were extremely thankful for Darren's assistance and full of praise for his bravery in entering the water unprepared and unexpected, off duty to perform the sea rescue.

At 2350hrs on 12 th August 2007, following reports of a threatened suicide PCs Sunderland, Jones and Martin went to the slipway adjacent to the pier on the promenade at Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, North Wales.

A vehicle had been driven into the water at speed and was floating. PCs Sunderland and Martin went into the water to a distance of approximately 60 feet from the slipway.   As the vehicle submerged the driver kicked out the window and escaped onto the roof of the vehicle.  

The male then refused to leave the roof of the steadily sinking vehicle.   The two officers were by now exhausted from swimming against the tide and treading water near the victim.   Constable Jones, who is well over 6' tall, was in the sea to chest level with a floatation device but was unable to reach the others with it as the lifeline was too short.   When Sergeant Williams arrived she recognised that the officers were exhausted, the male was not assisting them and immediate assistance was necessary.   She entered the water and swam out to assist the other officers in the water and on reaching them she put the male in the chin tow position and all the officers then dragged the male out of the water and back up the slipway to safety .

At 0230hrs on 18 th June 2007 PC Sarah Hughes was dispatched to the River Ogwen at Bethesda, North Wales, following reports that a male had jumped 25ft into the river.  

With the assistance of, as yet, an unidentified male, PC Hughes descended the bank.   There she found a male whose legs were trapped by a branch, half in the water and semi conscious.   As he recovered consciousness he became difficult to manage.  

Having been instructed to lean towards PC Hughes, he did the opposite and fell backwards into the water where he was now suspended with head and body submerged.   He was in imminent danger of drowning so PC Hughes immediately entered the fast flowing water to chest height.   The officer then supported his head whilst freeing him and assisting him out of the water.   Without her intervention there is no doubt the male would have drowned.

At 0046hrs on Sunday 23 rd September 2007, PC Moody and a colleague received a radio message that a young female had jumped from Victoria Bridge, Stockton, into the River Tees.

The officers immediately attended the scene. The colleague went to the east side of the bridge, whilst Darren went to the bridge itself and spoke to several witnesses, one of whom advised that the female who was known to her was drunk and in a suicidal state and she had jumped from the bridge on the west side into the river and had not been seen since.

PC Moody called for Air Support and then made his way to the waters edge on the west side of the bridge. On his arrival at the waters edge the officer could see the female who was slumped in the water. PC Moody entered the water to waist height and made his way to the female who was unresponsive. The officer ascertained she had a pulse and reported this to the communications centre requesting further assistance to get her out of the water.

On the arrival of assistance PC Moody placed the female over his shoulders to lift her up he bank to the other officers. The ambulance called to the scene could not get access to the site so PC Moody had to carry the female to the gates of the compound bordering the river, to pass her across to the paramedics .

At approximately 0500hrs on Saturday 22 September 2007 police received a report of a drunken woman in the water of the harbour area in Torquay Devon.

When Police officers attended they found the harbour master in a small rowing boat across the harbour shouting for help as the woman was slipping in and out of consciousness and the harbour master was unable to pull her into the boat on his own.

The woman had already been in the freezing water for about 45 minutes. PC Lee LANGLEY and Special Constable Thomas REYNOLDS made an improvised lifebuoy and entered the freezing water to try and rescue the woman. As they swam to the woman they discovered that she had become entangled in a rope from a nearly buoy and was by this time unconscious.

The officers managed to cut the rope away from the woman and then towed her back into the harbour shore where she was taken by ambulance to Torbay hospital suffering from severe hypothermia. Both officers were extremely cold and tired.

The incident occurred nearing the end of a busy late /night duty where SC REYNOLDS had already been involved in a foot chase through woods and restrained a violent man.   Both officers acted promptly and professionally in order to save the woman's life.

At approximately 12.15 hours on Monday 22 nd October 2007, Police were notified that a 54 year old female patient had run out of the mental health unit at Watford General Hospital.

Officers started an area search and it was established that the missing patient was in the Cassiobury Park area of Watford. Contact was made with her via her mobile phone and she indicated her intention to commit suicide.

PCSO Haynes and PCSO Scott made a search of the area. The missing person had been sighted on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal between Cassiobury Park, Watford and Two Bridges, Croxley Green.

At 13.58 hours the officers saw the female in the canal, she was at this time in considerable distress and both officers agreed that she would probably drown if they did not enter the water to save her, although neither of them would describe themselves as strong swimmers.

Both officers removed their ‘Stab' jackets and radio's, Linda activated her Radio emergency button to alert the control room that they had located the female, provided the exact location and that they were going to enter the water to rescue her.

They lowered themselves into the canal from the bank and found the water to be very cold although only chest depth near to the bank. At this time the female had floated to the middle of the canal and both officers needed to swim out about 13 feet to her, it is estimated that the canal is between 10 to 15 feet deep in the middle and there was a slow downstream current.

The officers saw that the female was violently struggling and in an effort to stop her placing them in danger, Linda used the female's handbag as a towing aid and Kim took hold of her jacket to stop the female's head from submerging under the water.

The officers struggled to get the female back to the bank and once there, they eventually managed eventually to climb out of the water and remained with the female reassuring her whilst the control room was updated and medical assistance was dispatched to them.

The female was detained under the provisions of Section 136 Mental Health Act and all three were taken to Watford General Hospital by ambulance suffering from the effects of Hypothermia and Shock. Both PCSOs were subsequently released that evening.

The actions of both Linda and Kim saved the female's life and it is to their credit that they acted within the best traditions of the service, in spite of being relatively weak swimmers who have received no lifesaving training.

At 1837 hrs on 10 th June 2007 a call was taken from the Ambulance service reporting a person drowning in Brookvale Park Boating lake, George Rd, Erdington.

The two officers were the first officers to the scene and were confronted with three males trying to get into the water to assist a friend who had gone under the water and not been seen for several minutes. The group had been playing football and when the ball had accidently gone into the water the male who was now missing had entered the water to recover it. The three men could not swim and clearly would have got into difficulty had they got into the water to find their friend.

PC Kelly held the men back, gathering information from them as to where the missing person had last been sighted while PC Beards entered the water and tried for over fifteen minutes to dive and locate the missing man. Unfortunately this was in vain as he was later recovered from the water deceased. The conditions in the lake were very dangerous with deep mud and cold water.

The actions of the officers were courageous and whilst they were unable to save one male, they prevented an escalation of casualties, as the other males attempted to get into the water to find their friend.

At the inquest the Coroner singled out the officers for a special mention stating that they had behaved in the best traditions of the Police and acted positively

At 0800 hrs on 2 nd July 2007, Police were alerted by a telephone call from a member of the public reporting a woman's body in the River Derwent, Raynesway, Derby.

The woman had entered the water in an attempt to take her own life.

The River Derwent was extremely fast flowing and approximately 50 yards wide at the point she entered and was swollen due to heavy rain.   Officers on the ground were unable to attempt a rescue due to steep banks and lack of equipment.   

The Police helicopter was deployed and a buoy was dropped from it to the woman.    However she was unable or unwilling to grab it.

Pc Fish and PS Worthington dropped into the water wearing their boots, flying suits and helmets with life jackets.   They dropped from 25 and 30 feet respectively.   Both Officers went under the water; neither touched the river bottom.   Both surfaced about 25 m from the southern bank.   Pc Fish swam about 10 m with the current and grabbed hold of the woman, holding her head out of the water. PS Worthington arrived and both Officers towed the woman to a partially submerged tree and keep her above the water for about 25 minutes until the fire service arrived with a boat. Throughout they talked to the woman reassuring her and placed a foil blanket around her upper torso.

The woman was suffering from hypothermia but later recovered in hospital.

Police Constables were on patrol when they overheard calls over local radio channels reporting a male in a river who was not moving.

Both officers immediately made their way to the area only to discover that the scene was not at this location. Both officers then tried to locate the informant and after a lengthy search they located her and she directed them to a small lake approximately 1 mile from their present location.

The Officers then had to make their way on foot to the lake. Having run all the way to the waters edge they found the lake was was approx 150' by 200' in size and in the centre of this lake they could see a body in this freezing cold water. At first they were unsure whether this was in fact a body or a manikin due to the pale colour. This was fed back to the force information room who upon the direction of local inspector put out a directive that no officer was to enter the water unless properly trained.

Both officers were very aware that in the current weather conditions that if this person was to remain in the water this would be a time critical with the onset of Hypothermia.

One of the PC's fortunately is trained in life saving and rescue skills from water, but due to the location of the incident did not have all his appropriate equipment but waiting for this would almost certainly lead to the death of the person in the water.

He made an initial assessment and considered rescue from the shore line but the person was unresponsive and he had no option to make an entry into the water having already made plans with his colleague should he come into difficulties, these were to be supported by local officers who had also arrived at the scene.

The officer then entered the water having stripped off his clothing and equipment however the water level was too deep to wade out to the person and he was forced to swim approximately 20 - 25metres to the person who upon reaching he realised was a large female approximately 18 stone in weight. The officer then began to drag the female to the shore where a Basildon paramedic had entered the water and with the assistance of the second officer extricated the woman from the water.

One of the officers then utilised his Advanced medic skills and was able to ascertain that the woman still had a pulse and began first aid treatment. Having examined the woman the officer could see that the lady had cut wrists and that her pupils were dilated and it appeared that she may have taken an opiate overdose. A search around the lake also discovered a bag containing pills and alcohol which the female was also believed to have taken.

The Air Ambulance was called and once stabilised by the officer and ambulance staff the woman was extricated to Queens's hospital, Romford where she is still undergoing treatment.

It is without doubt that had it not have been for the early intervention by the two officers   this lady would have passed away.

In the early hours of Tuesday 19 March 2008 police were called to the Quay at Kingsbridge in Devon as a result of a telephone call from an intoxicated and distressed lady who was concerned about her friend who, also in drink, had climbed into the water and disappeared.

It was a very cold night and there were grave concerns that if the woman was in the water any length of time her chances of survival would be slim.

As officers searched around the Quay area they were able to hear but not see, a woman crying. Eventually PC Andrew WALDRON saw the woman in the water. She was wearing a tee shirt and jeans and was clinging onto the moorings of a small boat anchored in the quay. She appeared exhausted.

PC WALDRON climbed into the water and managed to secure a hold on the woman and manoeuvre her to the edge of the water by supporting her weight against the quay wall ladder.

At this time the woman lost consciousness and PC WALDRON had to support her whole weight. Sergeant John LIVINGSTONE climbed down the wall ladder to the water and between the officers they managed to drag the woman to the safety of the quayside.

PC WALDRON then administered first aid to the woman trying to keep her warm until an ambulance arrived and took her to hospital where she made a full recovery.

PC WALDRON and Sergeant LIVINGSTONE showed courage whilst remaining professional. Their actions that night probably saved the life of the woman concerned.