Last updated at 16:53, Tuesday, 05 March 2013

A CONSTABLE who earned the nickname of “God’s cop” is set to leave South Cumbria after 11 years on the beat in Barrow.

OUT AND ABOUT PC Ollie Hamilton (left), long-running community officer for Ormsgill, and Cllr Bill McEwan discuss a matter

PC Ollie Hamilton is moving to Dundee after 11 years working as the community officer for Ormsgill.

The move back to his native Scotland has prompted a wave of praise for PC Hamilton.

“It (Ormsgill) had started to suffer from an unfair reputation in years gone by, but I think this has highly improved with the partnership work we have been doing,” he said.

“It is down to team work and working with people like the housing department, who report problem tenants. It has made Ormsgill a safer place to live and work.”

PC Hamilton, who won a Love Barrow award in 2009, said he had worked hard to deal with the problem of drugs, which he said had been taking a “strangle-hold” on Ormsgill about 10 years ago.

He said people became confident about approaching him.

“I think they felt they had been alienated,” he said.

“Ormsgill had had a bobby for maybe 18 months or two years at a time, but I was able to make a long-term commitment.”

PC Hamilton will undertake two weeks of training in Scotland before being deployed with the force in Dundee, where he has moved with his wife and three children.

Father Mark Edwards MBE, who was vicar of Ormsgill between 2000 and 2008, said PC Hamilton earned the moniker of “God’s cop” because they were so often seen together when he first took up the role.

“Together with other agencies on the estate, such as the residents’ association and Ormsgill Primary School, PC Hamilton succeeded in reducing crime and disorder and brought a sense of security to the estate,” he said.

“He is simply irreplaceable according to the residents.”

First published at 16:34, Tuesday, 05 March 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk