Officers Praised By Bereaved Family

Two South Yorkshire Police officers have been praised by a bereaved family for their kindness and compassion after their son died in a fatal traffic collision in Doncaster last year.

The family thanked their family liaison officer, PC Gary Holland, and the lead investigation officer, Jack Deakin, in a letter that was later shared with their permission in the local press.

They wrote: “Following the death of our son, we placed all our trust and faith in South Yorkshire Police to try and help us understand what happened and provide us with answers, and this was not misplaced.

“Every officer, especially Gary, our family liaison officer, is a credit to the people of South Yorkshire, their uniform and their Chief Constable.

“We will never forget the kindness and commitment of your officers; it must be so very hard having to deal with these terrible tragedies. We know that the uniform is not a shield, and behind it there is a human being, perhaps even a father or a mother, just like anyone.”

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “This shows the fantastic, often unseen, work that police officers do all the time.

“It is absolutely right that these officers have been praised for their work and I hope they feel proud – and their colleagues feel proud – when they read it.

“This standard of work is the norm for policing. The 0.1% who let policing down are not the norm. I’m really pleased to see newspapers sharing this, because it absolutely needs to get out there – it’s about time a spotlight started to be shone on the unbelievable work that our officers do, day in and day out.”