The Chief
Constable’s Bravery and Excellence Awards were celebrated last week at the
Police Scotland Headquarters in Tulliallan – and Edinburgh Napier just missed
out on taking home the Policing Partner of the Year Award.
The
awards recognise the commitment, initiative and bravery of Police Scotland
officers and staff, as well as partner organisations and members of the public.
The
University were in the running via our Fearless Edinburgh partnership, which
includes Edinburgh Rape Crisis, Police Scotland, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh City
Council working with Edinburgh College, Edinburgh University, Heriot-Watt
University, Queen Margaret University and ourselves.
The aims of this partnership are to prevent and tackle sexual violence in the
city, focus on harm reduction, increase awareness and enhance support services.
Our partners at Police Scotland say this work has made a contribution to the
reduction in sexual crimes involving students over the last two years.
The award went to the excellent Tayside Police Scotland and Barnardo’s RISE partnership,
which seeks to tackle child sexual exploitation. It’s a two-year pilot project
in Dundee and Aberdeen designed to address the Scottish Government’s National
Action Plan to prevent and tackle child sexual exploitation. The project has
been instrumental in transforming local services and designing a more trauma
informed approach to children and young people at risk in Dundee.
Mark
Wilkinson, Head of Student Wellbeing and Inclusion, attended the event on
behalf of the University and said, “It was great for our partnership to receive
this level recognition and to be invited to the awards. It was an interesting showcase
of great work by the police and their partners, as well as local communities
and citizens.”