Dorset Justice Awards

The pride of Dorset’s criminal justice system were recognised for their outstanding achievement on 21 September 2010.

At the Dorset Justice Awards  ceremony, the overall award for Outstanding Achievement in 2010 was presented to Mr Khalique Miah from Dorchester for his Individual Contribution to Diversity. Following a racist attack, Khalique had to deal with the inevitable police enquiry, the court case and seeing the assailants jailed. Since then he has worked hard with all members of different communities in Dorset to arrange the One World Festival which has proved so successful it has become a regular event in Dorchester.

Other award winners included PC Nigel Belton from Dorset Police for Engaging Communities;  the team involved with the Kainos Programme for Working with Offenders; Vita Nova, a community theatre company, where all the members are in recovery from alcohol and/or drug addiction received the Contribution to Engaging Local Communities award; the Time Out Team from Portland Young Offenders Institute received the team award for Tackling Youth Crime with their new initiative for young people who as a result of their behaviour have volunteered for this programme – Time for Change Project.

The Victim Care Unit from Dorset Victim Support based in Poole won the team award for Caring for Victims. Part of the team's work involved assisting with criminal injuries compensation claims and through working closely with all agencies has increased the amount of monies given to victims. Dorset Victim Support remains in the top five out of 53 areas nationally for reaching their targets when dealing with victims of crime.

David Webb from Dorset Youth Offending Team was given an award for his contribution to tackling Youth Crime; Kris Hallett for her work in Engaging Local Communities; a team award for Commitment to Diversity went to the PPALS team from Swanage; Op Protect from Dorset Police, members of the Safe Bus Team and volunteer of the Year Award went to Barry Barnes for his work with Hate Crime Victims and his contribution to the Safe Bus Team; Mike Watts who runs the Learning Café within Dorset Probation and Della McGrath won individual awards for working with offenders and caring for victims and witnesses respectively.