A Wiltshire Police special constable has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the King’s Birthday Honours for developing technology that helps locate missing people.
Volunteer officer Damien Penman received the honour for his role in creating a web-based programme that allows officers to visualise cell site data on a map, significantly aiding missing person investigations.
The software, developed as part of his work in the Digital Investigations and Intelligence Unit (DIIU), enables officers to import mobile phone cell site data and use it in operational scenarios to track individuals’ movements more efficiently.
Special constable Penman, BEM, said: “I joined Wiltshire Police as a Special to help people and save lives, and in my mind this is just an extension of that.
“I’m now a trained Blue Light response driver and a police drone pilot – meaning that I spend a lot of my shifts responding to high-risk missing persons across the county.
“Combining this with the work that I’m doing with DIIU, we are now looking at more ways that we can combine our radio frequency data knowledge with drones to further enhance our capabilities in searching for missing persons and further innovate in this space.”
SC Penman was previously recognised with a local Innovation in Policing Award by the Chief Constable in January 2024.
He also won the same award at the South West Regional Volunteer Awards in October 2024 and was runner-up at the national Home Office Lord Ferrers Awards in December 2024.
