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A senior Worksop police officer has been given a national award in recognition of the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme she set up.

Insp Hayley Crawford, Nottinghamshire Police’s Bassetlaw district commander, has been presented with a National Pubwatch Malcolm Eidmans award, which recognises the ‘outstanding contribution made by a police officer or member of police staff in supporting Pubwatch’.

National Pubwatch, a voluntary organisation, supports more than 800 Pubwatch schemes across the UK, and works to promote safe, secure and social drinking environments in licensed premises.

Insp Crawford, was a civilian, as Lincolnshire’s substance misuse and sexual violence (prevention) strategic coordinator, when she created the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign, before joining Nottinghamshire Police on its direct entry scheme.

From left, National Pubwatch chairman, Lord Roy Kennedy, Insp Hayley Crawford and Wetherspoon’s legal director Nigel Connor.

Ask for Angela works by providing a ‘safe word’, which customers can use to discretely seek help in licensed premises, by asking bar staff for Angela.

The initiative has been so successful it has received international attention and has been taken up in many countries, including the USA, Australia, Argentina and Germany.

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Insp Crawford – who won the Suzy Lamplugh safety campaign of the year awardin 2017 for the scheme – said: “When I initially put it in place, it was one scheme within a bigger campaign I was doing at the time.

“It was just one of the resources for the night-time economy.

“I launched it initially in Spalding and then took it out to Lincoln and across the rest of the county.”

The idea was to help people that were out and feeling vulnerable, particularly those online dating.

Insp Crawford said: “There was a lot of people I was hearing about who were going on dates and not telling people they were going on an internet date because they were a bit embarrassed.

“What we were seeing in Lincolnshire at that time was people too embarrassed to report that they had been sexually assaulted after an internet date.”

She worked with her local Pubwatch schemes to introduce the initiative into pubs and bars and the ‘Ask for Angela’ poster started to be displayed in venues.

Since that time National Pubwatch has promoted the initiative across the UK – the campaign is now being promoted across Bassetlaw following Insp Crawford’s appointment to the district.

Worksop police officer honoured for national women's safety scheme