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7 November, 2017

Officer who arrested knifeman in York presented with an award in recognition of his courage

Whilst he was on duty one busy Saturday night, PC Farrar noticed a man acting suspiciously near a bike rack in York city centre. Fearing a theft might be in progress, PC Farrar approached the man, who was drunk and abusive. PC Farrar noticed that the man was trying to pull something from his waistband – only later did he discover that something was a 12 inch knife.

Working on policing instinct, PC Farrar sensed the situation was becoming dangerous, so he took steps to restrain the man. A struggle ensued causing both men to fall into the road with traffic passing in all directions.

Through PC Farrar’s efforts, and support from a passer-by who bravely stepped in to assist the officer, the offender – who turned out to be no stranger to criminal activity – was finally restrained before he could cause any harm with his knife. A Court later sentenced him to 12 months in jail.

Due to his brave actions, PC Farrar was awarded the Public Choice Award at North Yorkshire Police’s Annual Awards.

Julia Mulligan, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, championed the idea of the Public Choice Award, three years ago, to allow the public to show their appreciation to those who go the extra mile.

She said: “I was delighted to support this award once more and to hear about the courage and compassion shown by the finalists. The public showed a tremendous amount of support and appreciation of those who went above and beyond, often in incredibly challenging and dangerous circumstances.

“It was an honour to be able to reveal PC Richard Farrar as the winner of the Public Choice Award, and what a deserved winner he is. He put himself in danger to protect the public from a repeat offender which resulted in a prison sentence.  Given how outstanding the finalists were, this is a real accomplishment.

“And finally, I’d like to thank the public for their votes and also more widely, the support they give to the police. Without the public’s support, policing North Yorkshire would be all but impossible.”