Last week, the annual National Problem Solving Conference took place between Wednesday 2 – Friday 4 October at St George’s Park in Burton upon Trent, with the Tilley Awards taking place on Thursday evening.

The ‘Saving Lives with GPS’ project addresses the prevalence of people living with dementia going missing and suffering serious harm as a consequence.

This year, SYP were up against Leicestershire Police with their ‘Night-Time Economy Related Serious Violence’ project, Cleveland Police with their ‘Operation Arrow’ project and Greater Manchester Police with their ‘Lost & Found: Navigating the enigma of persistent missing from home locations’ and ‘Risky Premises’ projects.

TSG officer John Porter, who led on the ‘Saving Lives with GPS’ project alongside Sergeant Ben Hanson, said: “I am delighted that our project went on to win at this year’s Tilley Awards, and it was a real honour to highlight to the judges and the audience how we used a problem solving approach to tackle a very common issue that we are not just experiencing in our local community, but nationally as well.

“This project is something I am very passionate about as my dad had dementia, and many other people I have spoken to about the project have also said that they have family members or know people who are living with dementia, so many people can relate to it.

“I want to thank everyone involved in this project who have helped to make it a success. Hopefully we will see it rolled out nationally in the near future, and we can continue to help keep more people living with dementia safe and allowing them the freedom to live independently.”

Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, who is the NPCC lead for Problem Solving, said: “It was brilliant to see how all five finalists used problem solving methodology to address local, regional and national issues. All of the presentations we saw last week are fantastic examples of how each force had identified individual issues where a problem solving approach could be used, and how they tackled the issue using their knowledge and experience to come up with a successful solution.

“I would like to congratulate John, Ben and the rest of the team on their win. I would also like to say a huge well done to all of the other finalists and those who submitted entries for this year’s awards, you should all be extremely proud of yourselves and the work you have done.”

As part of the prize for winning the Tilley Awards, the ‘Saving Lives with GPS’ project will now be automatically submitted to the international Goldstein Awards in America next year.