Superintendent Richard James has received a national award for his groundbreaking work with Muslim communities in Northamptonshire.

On Wednesday 22 September, Richard received the Community Cohesion award at the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) national awards ceremony in London.

The award recognises the work Richard has undertaken in Northamptonshire in liaison with the Muslim population, which has included:
 
· Supporting Muslim members of staff post the London bombings in July 2005, and subsequently setting up a forum. Through time this developed into the Northants Police Muslim Association, one of only six in the country.
 
· In the year that followed, advising forces on effective local engagement with Muslim Communities.
 
· Supporting the launch of the Northants Muslim Council that united 27 different Muslim communities across the county.
 
· The initiation of monthly meetings with members of Muslim communities on each sector - often visiting Friday prayers, and talking through the current issues with members of those communities
 
Richard said:

“I was extremely flattered to receive this award.

“My approach has been to talk about local issues that we all share- how safe are our kids, resolve local anti-social behaviour, eliminate graffitti - these are often not racially motivated at all.
 
“I have initiated a local network of members of traditional ‘hard to reach’ communities through which we can swiftly communicate around topical issues (e.g. most recently the threatened ‘burning of the Koran’ episode in Florida).

“Our aim is to make Northamptonshire an employer of choice and to be truly responsive to the needs of all our communities.

“We would like each of these communities to be represented in our workforce.”

Richard has been a police officer since 1986 when he joined West Mercia Police, where he was promoted through the ranks.

He joined Northamptonshire Police on promotion to Superintendent in Crime and Community in 2005. Whilst working in that role Richard led work to improve how the force manages critical incidents and cases of domestic abuse, introducing force-wide changes to these processes.

Richard led the Force project to introduce Neighbourhood Policing Teams, and led a regional collaboration team to deliver the Home Office CONTEST plan to prevent radicalisation within Muslim communities.

On December 2008 Richard started working as Community Superintendent and subsequently territorial Commander on Northamptonshire North.