Hackney policeman receives Una Padel Award

PC Richard Harwin receives his Una Padel Award Copyright © 2010 Andrew Wiard All rights reserved

A former psychiatric nurse turned policeman has been awarded a prestigious Una Padel Award, in recognition of his work in transforming the relationship between people with mental health problems and the police.

The pioneering Hackney policeman has set up drop-in and workshop sessions for people who visit the local mental health charity, City and Hackney Mind, to provide a safe space for people to discuss crime in the community.

His face-to-face work at Mind has helped to rebuild trust between the police and vulnerable victims, ensuring that people with experience of mental distress have equal access to justice, whether they are a victim or a witness to crime.

Richard Harwin said, “It is an honour to be commended by the Una Padel Award, and I am grateful to Mind for nominating me. I’d also like to thank them for working with me more generally too, it so rewarding to be involved with projects such as City and Hackney Mind’s drop-in sessions.

“My background as a psychiatric nurse means I came into the Metropolitan Police with a keen interest in mental health and had seen how people with mental health problems can struggle to report crimes.

“As a result I’ve always wanted to do everything I can to improve communications between the police, service users and the wider community and am pleased to have been given the opportunity to improve understanding of mental health issues within the force and beyond.”

PC Harwin was appointed Mental Health Intervention Officer in 2008 and has worked tirelessly to improve the way the police work with victims with mental health problems.

According to mental health charity Mind, people with mental distress are less likely to report crimes to police for fear they won’t be believed or that police won’t act on their case, and there have been significant barriers in bringing the crimes committed against them to justice.

The Una Padel Awards 2009 ceremony was held on Wednesday 20 January 2010. More information here.

Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. It works to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.