Congratulations to our bravery nominee PC Dave Bridge

PC Dave Bridge was Essex Police’s nominee for the National Police Bravery Awards 2016. Dave was nominated after wading into the sea at night to rescue a vulnerable woman.

He talked about his experiences as he prepared for a reception at Downing Street with all the other nominees from across England and Wales.

Q: So you’re here at the National Police Bravery Awards. How are you feeling about being at Downing Street?

A: Excited, nervous.

Q: Tell me about your nomination, because you basically went into the sea to rescue someone who was possibly drowning.

A: Well it was a suicidal woman, she had waded out to sea at Thorpe Bay in Southend after cutting her wrists. She was chest deep in the water, quite a way out. I ran out at night, 1 o’clock in the morning, high tide, waded out to the woman, stemmed her bleeding from her wrists and coerced her to coming back in. Initially she didn’t want to walk back in but she’s a fan of dogs, and I’ve got my police dog in the car that was barking, and I used that to entice her to come back in to see the dog, which she did.

Q: What was going through your mind, because that’s obviously a dangerous situation for you as well?

A: Initially the actual wading out, a little bit nervous. Obviously, going out there still in full uniform with all my appointments and equipment, which is quite heavy in itself. But initially my main concern was when I got to her and she refused to come back in, and at that point she still had razor blades in her hand and obviously was bleeding from her wrists which were wide open. So it was more concern for her at that stage, just to get her back in.

Q: And what do you think today? It’s a great example of police bravery. You run towards danger when other people run away.

A: Yes, from a police point of view it’s recognition for all police officers, to be honest. I don’t think we get enough good publicity and good press, but certainly the awards highlight what we do every day as officers.