One of the Essex Police volunteers Active Citizens has been awarded the British Red Cross’s highest honour for his exceptional service to the charity.

Paul Taylor was presented with the Queen’s Badge of Honour by British Red Cross Vice-President Princess Alexandra, at St James’ Palace, recognising his committed service to the organisation and his humanitarianism. He is one of only 18 holders of the award in the country.

He has been a long-standing volunteer for the British Red Cross since the early 2000s and was one of its trustees and vice-chair, giving countless hours of his time to the organisation.

Not only that but Paul joined us as an Active Citizen in 2017, initially with Colchester Community Policing Team. He now works with our Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders (MOSOVO) team and recently has begun to support the Witness Care Team.

During his time as an Emergency Response Volunteer, Paul contributed to a series of major projects for the British Red Cross which led to changes in structure within the services to reach a greater number of beneficiaries whilst improving cost-effectiveness.

Paul says: “Hearing that I had been award admitted The Queen’s Badge of Honour came as a complete surprise. It is a great honour that will always be a potent recognition of the incredible work undertaken by our British Red Cross staff and volunteers here and around the world, alongside our International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and International Committee of the Red Cross partners.”

Of his work with Essex Police over the past four years, he adds: "I have been involved in community events, town centre patrols, providing home and personal security advice and speaking to residents about any concerns they had in their locality.

“I now assist the MOSOVO team with administration, acquiring information from police databases doing address checks on registered sex offenders and delivering and collecting evidential items to locations across Essex and, occasionally, Kent.

“It is very rewarding because I know my work frees up the officers to concentrate on their work managing registered sexual offenders and violent offenders. Similarly, in my new role I have begun to provide support to the Witness Support Team, again reducing the administrative burden of its officers.”

David Bernstein CBE, chair of the British Red Cross board of trustees, says: “On behalf of everyone at the British Red Cross, congratulations to Paul on receiving the Queen’s Badge of Honour. The British Red Cross relies on our network of staff and volunteers to support those in crisis at home and abroad and we are so proud of the service that Paul has given to the organisation. We would like to thank him for his years of dedicated service.”