BTP officer awarded KPM

An officer who has dedicated his 40+ years of service to supporting families through the darkest of times has been honoured with a KPM in the New Year’s Honours List.

Det Sgt Brian Power joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1979, serving in both uniform and CID.

It was during the latter that he became involved in family liaison work – offering families emotional support and care during the most difficult situations a family can face.

Since then, he has been the co-ordinator for teams of family liaison officers for incidents such as the 2004 Tsunami tragedy, 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings.

Since joining BTP in 2009, he has overseen the training of more than 250 liaison officers and co-ordinators, as well as seeing more than 500 officers trained to become detectives.

Brian was also the coordinator for all 14 liaison officers for the Croydon tram derailment in 2016.

He is now training officers from forces across the UK in providing bereavement support.

In his own time, he has run seven marathons for charity, runs a local youth club and has been an athletics coach for 20 years.

Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said: “Brian has been a pioneer in the incredibly difficult and emotive work of family liaison. It is because of his work that many families have been helped and supported through the darkest of times – and that so many others have been trained to carry out this vital role.

“Brian has shown unwavering dedication to the public for more than 40 years. His work in this area epitomises everything that is great about British policing and this honour is very much deserved.”

On hearing news of the honour, Brian said: “I honestly didn’t believe the man who told me, I initially thought it was a joke. It’s an absolute honour to have received the medal.

“I’ve been working for the police for 44 years and I still love my job. It’s a privilege to train those officers – from forces across the UK – who will be supporting families when they most need us.”