It was a great honour to be able to attend the National Police Twitter Awards as a finalist and put a voice and personality behind some of officially the best tweeting cops in the United Kingdom.
The Police Twitter Awards was coined by Mike Kenworthy a great supporter of the police within the UK and across the globe.
Mike is a very positive and supportive member of the policing family who works night and day to promote the excellent work our officers do and of course their presence on Twitter.
Mike is an advocate of policing twitter accounts and always helps out where he can with the growth and support of policing social media.
The awards team is made up of Mike Pannett, Superintendent Dennis Murray, Cheif Inspector Kerry Blakeman and of course Mike Kenworthy.
They have worked around the clock to bring you the Police Twitter Awards which has been officially endorsed by Twitter, Police Oracle magazine and Renegade TV.
Excitement is building for the @PoliceAwards we've managed to bump into @WYPDeeCollins & @MikePannett #PoliceTAwards pic.twitter.com/W2AgSPup9z
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
The award’s official got underway with a special music video produced for Alex Goodwin who is currently in America undergoing specialist cancer treatment. We wished we could have bottled the positive energy in the room and sent it over to Alex.
#PolTAwards https://t.co/I9i0CG1jzb
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable took to the stage and address the awards, honouring the incredible impact of 24 hour tweeting twitter events to highlight the work of police officers along with the use of social media to find the parents of a nine-year-old girl who was found by police.
Digital lead @CCIanHopkins addresses the @policeawards #poltawards pic.twitter.com/sXUP16v3Lu
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
A special video was then played from Brandon Lewis who showed his support for Smile For The BBC launched by Bullshire Police Fed, Brandon Shared his love for tweeting and pulled a pun about spell checking his tweets.
A nod to @BullshirePolfed campaign #SmileForTheBBC from @BrandonLewis video message to #PolTAwards pic.twitter.com/ZtYvmMzseK
— Sean Dilley NEWS (@seandilleyNEWS) December 23, 2016
The awards got underway with the winner of the best corporate account announced as @LochabSkyePol all the way from Scotland.
Best Corporate account goes to @LochabSkyePol @policescotland #PolTAwards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Rob Stevens was announced as the best individual tweeting officer. We meet with Rob a down to earth cop who talked passionately about his support for Alex Goodwin. Rob will go far in policing and rightly deserved.
Best individual tweeting officer @PCStevens1368 #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
The late Amanda Wood who tragically lost her life was named as best tweeting special constable in an emotional moment Amanda received a standing ovation.
Best tweeting special constable Amanda Wood #poltawards a special moment to honour Amanda with a standing ovation
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
A lovely PCSO going by the name of PCSO Saltash all the way from Devon And Cornwall police was announced as the best tweeting PCSO. We had the chance to meet PCSO Saltash. She is a lovely lady who will go far in policing, being engaged and very community focused.
Best tweeting PCSO goes to @SaltashPCSO #PolTAwards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Mike Pannett presented the award for best Horse account and which was awarded to the fantastic team Avon and Somerset mounted section.
Best tweeting horse account @ASPoliceHorses #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Mike Pannett spoke of the support he has for police dogs in the UK, He recalled one of the first campaigns Police Hour supported #DontDitchTheDogs we honoured the hard work and dedicated of our police working dogs.
Mike takes to the stage @MikePannett and shares success of #DontDitchTheDogs and the hard work our dogs do. #poltawards pic.twitter.com/fb3fuHcmTp
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
And the winner was announced as West Yorkshire Police Dogs. What a fantastic achievement.
Best tweeting dog account goes to @WYPDogs #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Its West Midlands Police taking the honour this time in the best tweeting informative police account with the firearms unit.
Best tweeting informative Police Account @firearmsWMP #poltawards pic.twitter.com/3VTAtRtN8l
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
We heard how road policing units have come a long way since parking next to panda cars half winding the window down so they don’t get too cold and asking the cops if they have the situation under control before driving off.
NW Motorway Police took the award for best tweeting roads policing account.
Best tweeting roads policing account @NWmwaypolice #PolTAwards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Harry Tangye took the award for best tweeting police Sergeant having met Harry he is passionate about policing, twitter and his community. He has hit the headlines this year for all the right reasons. Harry has a massive strength of character and a great personality.
Best tweeting police sergeant account is @DC_ARVSgt #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Another worthy winner was Chris Heflin Scott who took the award for the best tweeting senior officer. Sadly Chris couldn’t make the awards However he is a fantastic officer dedicated to policing and leadership. Chris is a credit to British policing.
Best tweeting senior officer @CHeflinScott #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
What an inspirational policing leader, Cheif Constable Dee Collins took the award for the Best tweeting senior officer. Dee has the personality and passion and the qualities of a great leader and is a role model for all women who aspire to be Cheif Constables.
Best tweeting senior officer @WYPDeeCollins #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
What a great guy, Muz took the award for best informative police account. Muz has produced some crime prevention rhymes that you must head over to his Twitter account, You don’t know what you are missing.
Best informative police account goes to @StatMan_Who big weldone from @PoliceHour #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
We just knew that our friends at UKCH would take this award, They are a fantastic team and produce some of the best policing related posts we have ever seen. They aim to counter all of the negative police press.
Best community partnership account @UKCopHumour #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
John Sutherland what an incredible policing leader and blogger, John has officially the best policing blog of 2016. If you have not read his content he is fantastic and a great inspirational to policing.
Best blogging police officer John Sutherland @policecommander #PolTAwards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
The best tweeting air support unit went to none other than NPAS Birmingham.
Best aviation account goes to @NPASBirmingham #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
With the best newcomer to twitter going too!
Best Twitter Newcomer to @TwitterUK @PhoenixSalford #poltawards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
And the overall winner of the Police Twitter Awards 2016 is all the way from Devon and Cornwall Police Harry Tangye. Congratulations you deserved it.
Who is going to the @SMILEConference who will be the winner! https://t.co/tKmoQNRSHg
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Finally what an emotional moment as police dog Finn makes a special appearance at the Police Twitter Awards one week after returning to operational duties after saving the life of his dog handler. Finn took a knife to the head and nearly died to protect his handler.
Police Dog Finn #poltawards https://t.co/121q4IuHYP
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
That just leaves us with one final tweet to thank the team who put everything together.
Once again we would like to thank @MikePannett @kenworthy39 @kerryblakeman & @SuptMurray #PolTAwards
— Police Hour (@PoliceHour) December 23, 2016
Until 2017 that it from the Police Twitter Awards.