Police officers from Scarborough win award for their efforts to save a man's life

The shortlisted nominees all demonstrated significant commitment and determination in their roles this past year and gone above and beyond to provide exceptional service.

PC Mandir Xherija and PC Steve Merritt who both work in Scarborough won the North Yorkshire Police Public Choice Award.

In October 2020, they attended a report of a concern for safety after a rucksack and mobile phone had been found abandoned on the footpath near a cliff edge.

PC Xherija, shortly followed by PC Merritt, using an old fishing rope embedded into the cliffside, lowered themselves around 100 feet down to a man they could see on the rocks.

When the coastguard arrived they assessed the cliffs as too dangerous for their team to climb down and called for a coastguard rescue helicopter to winch the man to safety.

The officers performed CPR on the man for some 90 minutes whilst they waited for the helicopter to arrive.

Despite the best efforts of the officers in challenging circumstances, the man sadly later died.

The virtual awards ceremony took place on Friday night last week.

Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:

“These Public Choice Awards have been a chance for us to recognise the extraordinary work that our officers, volunteers and staff provide for our communities, keeping us safe and feeling safe hour-after-hour, day-after-day.

“This past year has been difficult for everyone, but I have heard from communities across North Yorkshire and York how much they value the work of our brave police officers, firefighters and police and fire staff.

"Despite the focus being so much on Covid, there has been no let-up in the other crimes, incidents and situations they have to face. These Awards were an opportunity to express our support to those who support us, and I congratulate everyone who was nominated and all the winners.”