Police Officers Deserve Medals For Heroes

There should be recognition of the sacrifices made by police officers who are killed in the execution of their duty, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, backing the ‘Medals for Heroes’ campaign.

In recent weeks both the Labour Party and the Welsh Parliament have pledged their support for the families of fallen police officers to be given a medal similar to the Elizabeth Cross.

The long-running police campaign has been spearheaded by Bryn Hughes, the father of PC Nicola Hughes, who was murdered in 2012.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said the medal was “a no-brainer”. He said: “It’s bizarre that we don’t already have a system in place that recognises officers in this way. I want to pay absolute credit to all the people who have been involved in this, including Bryn Hughes and a lot of other people who have fought for this.

“How can we not recognise the sacrifices that people are making in this regard? It’s great that Labour are looking at supporting it. I hope it’s not just political posturing, because for me this should be something that every political party gets fully behind.”