Above and beyond the call of duty...

Police constable Mebs Ahmed, ethnic minority liaison office, at Lancashire Constabulary's headquarters in Hutton received the George Herbert Redman award at a special ceremony in Blackpool recently.

He is one of police officers on the Lancashire force to receive the accolade for promoting improved relations between police and the public.

PC Ahmed, 44, from Preston, was awarded the honour in recognition of his contribution to the constabulary's pioneering work with ethnic minority recruitment.

The officer, who has been in the force for 11 years, has established networks across the range of under-represented groups in Lancashire including the Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and African Caribbean communities.

He regularly represents the constabulary at community events and was pivotal in establishing a partnership with the Lancashire Council of Mosques, resulting in a £250,000 award from the Connecting Communities Initiative, to encourage recruitment within the ethnic minority communities.

Currently the force is on-line to achieve Home Office targets for ethnic minority recruitment and PC Ahmed personally meets most ethnic minority recruits to advise them about life in the force as a black police officer.

At the ceremony PC Ahmed also received a cheque for £400. He will be donating £200 to the Blackburn Community Badminton League and remainder to New Harmony, in Preston.

Deputy chief constable Paul Stephenson said: "These are two officers dedicated to their job in different fields of police work. They have both clearly demonstrated activity beyond their normal duty and fully deserve this award."