ESSEX has been named Police Force of the Year at the National Black Police Association (NBPA) awards.

The force was praised for its work on the Police Race Action Plan, its Positive Action Engagement Plan, a fourth successive 'Towards Excellence' Conference and its 'We Value Difference' recruitment campaign.

The nomination detailed the work carried out by the force's Multi and Ethnic Support Association in relation to the Police Race Action Plan, which involved sharing best practice with all forces in England and Wales.

The force was also praised for putting diversity, equality and inclusion at the centre of its values alongside providing support to ethnic minority candidates through the recruitment process and ensuring pathways into policing are accessible to all.

This year Essex also hosted its fourth Towards Excellence Conference celebrating the achievements across the workforce and wider communities whilst the award also recognised its commitment to taking on honest feedback whilste also 'working tirelessly' to improve trust, transparency, and confidence.

Lisa Leonce, one of the Essex Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs) members in west Essex, also won the Community Champion award.

Chief Constable Ben Julian Harrington said: "This award comes at a time when policing has been in the headlines on television for the wrong reasons and I'm so proud that the work of so many people on diversity and inclusivity has been recognised.

"This shows our commitment to policing with the consent of all communities; that is ingrained in this force and everyone in it. Ensuring we are representative of our communities means we are better able to serve them.

"Thank you to our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion teams and all of those who support and work with our Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs) who are so important to us.

"One of our IAG members, Lisa Leonce, was also recognised and won an award for her amazing work supporting us and being a critical friend on how we are policing our communities. Inviting scrutiny and challenge from our community through our IAGs is vital to ensuring that we're policing with consent."

Supt Darren Deex, who has led on the subject across the force, added: "We've had a real commitment to ensuring that not only are we represented at a national level on the national committee, so that we can share our own best practice, but also to ensure that we learn from the successes of other forces and apply those insights locally in partnership with our communities.

"Sergeant Simon Miah, our national committee member, has been instrumental in helping the force to achieve such great progress. I truly believe that we are at our strongest when we are our most representative, and I know that across the force, our officers and staff are incredibly proud to have won this award."

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, said: "Congratulations to Essex Police on this achievement, together we have worked hard to build a service which is truly representative of the communities it serves and to receive national recognition of our work is very special."