A Police Officer who grew up in Frosterley has been awarded the King’s Police Medal in the New Year’s Honours List.
Superintendent Andy Huddleston, now working with Northumbria Police, is a former pupil of Wolsingham School who joined Durham Constabulary in 1995. He was always an off-road motorcycling enthusiast, as was his younger brother, and had been a member of the Yamaha Trials Team. He competed in the British and World Championships, winning three British Championship medals.
In his working life, Andy has been employed across a wide range of policing, from neighbourhood teams to VIP Armed Protection and counter-terrorism. He was a firearms tactical team officer for a few years before being promoted and in 2010 became responsible for establishing the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit. This was the largest number of firearms officers and road policing specialists in the country.
Two years later, Andy led the team that planned and escorted the 2012 Olympic torch relay throughout the north-east.
He has received many Chief Constable Commendations, two of which were for the innovative use of covert tracking technology to catch machinery thieves, especially in rural areas, and for his leadership as Tactical Firearms Commander during a protracted, armed siege.
He is a great advocate of Rural Watch programmes similar to what we already have well-established in Weardale. When he was asked how to tackle rural crime, Andy knew just the answer. He said, “Rural Watch Schemes are without doubt the most powerful advance in tackling crime I have seen in my career. If anyone – police, industry or public – want to reduce rural crime, this is a must have.
“It works most effectively when the community not only help identify criminality but also, crucially, deter offenders by making the area hostile places for them to operate in, which I think is brilliant. This is the public and the police working together at its very best.”
In 2017, Andy joined Northumbria Police on promotion to Superintendent and has spent three years as head of Response and Neighbourhood Policing for the Northern Command, two years as the Chief Constables Staff officer and was the force lead for Rural Crime.
Since 2018, he has been the NPCC national lead for the theft of construction and agricultural machinery. In April 2023 Andy established and now heads the National Rural Crime Unit which is tasked with supporting forces and representing rural policing including the theft of construction equipment across the UK and abroad.
He said when he was appointed, “I’m very proud to lead the newly formed National Rural Crime Unit. It is a very small team but is made up of outstanding people who all aim to further improve the support of police forces with not just machinery thefts but also livestock theft and fly-tipping.
“Where I do believe we are already making a difference is in far better national co-ordination, sharing of best practice and challenging big organisations so that we are all doing the best we can to reduce crime and protect our rural communities.”
And now, this community-minded Weardale lad has the well-deserved King’s Police Medal to add to his ever-lengthening achievements, which we are sure hasn’t finished yet!
Many congratulations, Andy.
