Woman reunited with the officers who saved her life
A woman who suffered a cardiac arrest and stroke while driving has been reunited with the police officers who fought to save her.
Jacqueline Alston’s heart stopped beating for more than an hour after the incident in May, but she has since made a miraculous recovery and was able to spend Christmas at home with her family in Braintree.
Her husband, Gary, believes a guardian angel is watching over his wife as a series a fortuitous coincidences meant Jacqueline, 62, quickly received the medical assistance that kept her alive.
“She shouldn’t be here really. Nobody survives a stroke and a cardiac arrest,” Gary said. “If you saw what happened in a film, you’d turn it off because it was unbelievable. Nobody who attended the scene should have been there.”
Billericay: PD Khan tracks suspect after car theft
PD Khan has been hard at work yet again!
In the early hours of Saturday, December 28, 2024, officers responded to a report of a vehicle theft in Billericay.
Within 30 minutes of the report, an armed police unit spotted a vehicle, a Lexus, which matched the description of the stolen car.
The vehicle did not stop when signalled to do so and attempted to evade officers. The vehicle was subsequently abandoned in a field close to Barleylands Road.
A dog unit, including PD Khan, was quickly deployed to the scene. PD Khan tracked a suspect across three fields, which allowed officers to make a quick arrest in a ditch.
During the search, PD Khan also located an item believed to be involved in a car theft discarded in a hedge.
A man was arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.
We’re investigating a single-vehicle collision in Somnes Avenue, on Canvey Island, which was reported to us shortly after 5am this morning, Sunday 5 January 2025.
Once on scene, officers found a car had collided with a lamppost and had been badly damaged. There were no occupants in the vehicle and work is ongoing to identify who may have been in the vehicle at the time of the collision.
Our investigation has identified that the vehicle was stolen from an address on the island and we’re now pursuing a number of targeted lines of enquiry.
Officers investigating dangerous driving on the M11 are appealing for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to come forward.
We were called at around 1.30pm on Sunday 29 December to reports of multiple high-end cars swerving across lanes and driving in a reckless manner.
The vehicles were seen to hold up traffic by blocking all lanes, with their hazard lights on.
It is suspected this behaviour was undertaken to allow racing on the carriageway ahead.
This driving was first witnessed on the M11 Northbound near Junction 6, near Theydon Bois, and later in the Harlow area.
Suspect vehicles identified at this stage include Lamborghinis, Audi RS models, Mercedes of unknown model, a Maserati, two Rolls Royce Cullinan models and a Range Rover SVR.
Our Roads Policing Unit is continuing an investigation.
Nearly 350 drink and drug driving related arrests in December
Nearly 350 people were arrested last month by our officers tackling drink and drug driving.
Throughout December, our Roads Policing Unit officers supported the national drink drive campaign Operation Limit to tackle drink driving in particular, and to take dangerous drivers off the road in an effort to reduce the number of killed and seriously injured collisions in Essex.
A total of 339 people were arrested for drink or drug driving-related offences, an increase of nearly 13 percent on the 296 arrests made during the same period last year.
It appears the increase has been driven by an increase in drug driving arrests.
Answering the Call: Why Laura Sitch Chose to Be a Special Constable
Laura's inspiration to volunteer stemmed from her wish to become a regular officer but she wanted to know what is was going to be like on shift first-hand. This led her to volunteer as a Special Constable in 2012, a decision she has never regretted.
Besides her volunteer work, Laura is a Specials Support Officer in her day-to-day role, balancing her professional and personal life with remarkable skill.
Nearly 20 drivers were caught driving at least 90mph on the M11 last weekend as our officers worked to ensure you’re safe on our roads.
On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 December, officers from our Roads Policing Unit were carrying out speed checks on the M11 and caught 18 drivers travelling at least 20mph over the speed limit.
One driver was found doing 106mph.
Added to that, work elsewhere in the county say seven drivers going between 38 and 40mph in Thorpe Bay on Sunday.
And on Tuesday 31 December, officers captured 37 drivers speeding on our trunk roads, including someone doing 96mph on the A130.
Proceeds of Crime Scheme redistributes £750k of seized assets in a decade
The unique initiative established to give confiscated criminal cash to projects that benefit the community in Essex has celebrated its tenth anniversary.
The Essex Police Proceeds of Crime Scheme was set up by the force with the independent charitable trust Essex Community Foundation (ECF) in 2014 and is the only scheme of its kind in the UK.
Since then, the force has donated £750,000 to the project from cash and the sale of assets confiscated from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
ECF has used the monies to match eligible donations on a two to one basis and establish charitable funds that currently have a combined value of £1.5 million.
These invested funds enable grants to be given away year on year, and to date, £360,000 has been given to local charities and voluntary groups involved in creating safer communities.
Video interviews are reducing emergency response times and improving arrest rates in Essex – thanks to the continued work of our Rapid Video Response Team (RVR).
RVR is a victim-focused investigative tool first rolled out in 2023, working alongside call handlers in our Contact Management Command, which provides another way for domestic abuse victims to report an incident without having to come to a police station or have officers visit their home in a marked police car.
Victims supported by the team have said they appreciated having someone to speak to so quickly, not being rushed on the call, and having the option to speak at home without attending a police station, which can often feel intimidating.
Since the team started work in March 2023 they have delivered 4,500 video consultations.
In addition, they have also delivered over 700 Claire’s Law (Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme) disclosures using the calls.
They have also supported our officers with providing translators virtually and taking accounts during searches for missing people.
Not only do these save time, we estimate that every 1,000 consultations saves about £50,000 in officer hours and policing resources, which means the team has saved Essex Police more than £200,000 since March 2023.
Visit our website for full advert, job descriptions and application form.
This week we remember
John Harvey
John Harvey served in the West Riding of Yorkshire before transferring to Essex in 1885. He was posted to Ardleigh on 6 January 1886 and promoted to sergeant there on 1 October 1891. He had a wife and three children, and at the time he died his wife was again pregnant.
On 4 January 1894 John Harvey made some enquiries on his beat, and patrolled for some distance with one of his constables who last saw him at about 7.30pm. The following morning John Harvey’s body was found head first down a well in the snow-covered garden of a cottage in Ardleigh; his watch had stopped at 8.21. There were injuries to the face, but it could not be determined with certainty how they had been caused. It has never been proved whether the Sergeant fell or whether he was pushed.
Leslie Bloom
Leslie Bloom spent all his police service at Colchester, where he qualified as a class one driver and is remembered for his great interest in traffic and road safety. In the early hours of a January morning, Leslie Bloom was riding his motor cycle along Greenstead Road in Colchester on his way to work for an early turn shift, when he hit the back of a parked transit van. He died from his injuries shortly afterwards.
We're offering more ways of reporting non-emergency crime and anti-social behaviour through the digital 101 service on our website.
You can also use the service to contact your local policing team, tell us about something you have seen or heard, or request information.
We also have a 24-hour Live Chat service, where you can send direct messages to a digital 101 operator.
We still have our 24-hour 101 service which people can call if they feel it is more appropriate to speak to us or don't have access to the internet.
Always call 999 if a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed, someone is in immediate danger or harm, property is in danger or being damaged, or a serious disruption to the public is likely.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000.
British Sign Language (BSL) users please use our video relay service where an interpreter will help you report the crime to us.
If you're in danger but you can't talk on the phone, you should still call 999, then follow these instructions depending on whether you're calling from a mobile or a landline.
