National Award For Sussex Police Officer Gemma

A Sussex Police officer has won a national award for her work in significantly improving the Force's support for victims of sexual offences.

Det Sgt Gemma Holley, who works in the Public Protection team and is a Sexual Offences Liaison Officer (SOLO) based at Littlehampton, was presented with the Police Now award for showing 'outstanding leadership' at a ceremony in London on October 4.

The annual 'Alumni Impact Awards' celebrate the achievements of officers who have graduated from one of Police Now's national programmes and have gone above and beyond to reduce or solve crime, problem-solve in their communities, or innovate and lead within policing.

Gemma joined Police Now's one-year Frontline Leadership Programme in 2022, which supports talented constables to progress to sergeant rank, with a focus on inclusive and innovative frontline leadership.

She proactively identified ways to improve the forcewide SOLO role to deliver a better and more consistent service for victims.

The force now has a 175% increase in operational SOLOs thanks to her work on updating the structure of the SOLO network.

Her work with the Learning and Professional Development team to provide additional training ensures there are always multiple SOLOs on shift across Sussex at any one time.

Gemma successfully applied for funding and worked with partners to provide bespoke training for the force's Sexual Offences Investigation Trained (SOIT) officers, focusing on supporting victims with different protected characteristics – such as members of the LGBTQIA+ community, victims with learning disabilities, individuals from different ethnic backgrounds, and people who are neurodivergent.

The SOITs also committed to being SPOCs (Single Points of Contact) for their teams, to share this knowledge and understanding more widely across the force.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cullimore said:

"When Gemma was tasked with delivering the national rape and serious sexual offences investigative skills development programme in the force, she trained over 330 officers – massively exceeding the assigned target of 51 officers.

"Having significantly delivered against the national requirement, she garnered national attention for the work from Op Soteria's joint unit and the Home Office.

"The impact of Gemma's work will make a real difference to victims of rape and serious sexual offences."