A DETECTIVE who was first posted to Teignmouth has been honoured in the Police Awards for Devon and Cornwall.

Among those receiving awards was Detective Chief Inspector James Stock.

Deputy Chief Constable Jim Colwell hosted the awards ceremonies in Saltash to celebrate the long service of officers and staff and a leadership award.

He was joined by Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, for the morning ceremony and Colonel Tom French OBE, Deputy Lord Lieutenant, for the afternoon, as well as by colleagues and representatives from across the force.

The citations for the morning ceremony were read by Chief Superintendent Dan Evans and for the afternoon by Superintendent Phil Williams.

Detective Chief Inspector James Stock joined Devon and Cornwall Police in 2001 with his first posting being to Teignmouth Police Station as a response officer.

Moving onto a newly formed Rural Proactive Unit in 2004, James executed more than 150 warrants in a 12-month period.

Continuing his career in proactive policing, James became a force intelligence officer in 2005 and was the lead intelligence officer for Op Devonia, identifying a missing female five years after she had been reported missing.

Overseeing extensive proof of life inquiries, James helped secure justice for Saraya Broadhurst and her family with a successful murder conviction.

Moving across into CID in 2006, James was promoted into custody as a sergeant in 2007, then in 2010 James took up a role within the Public Protection Unit (PPU), managing the Domestic Abuse Units across South Devon.

He has worked as a detective sergeant in the Local Safeguarding Investigation Team, and when promoted in 2017, as an inspector, he took up the detective inspector role for South Devon PPU.

In 2019 James became a temporary chief inspector, remaining in PPU, he was the DCI for South Devon and had force-wide responsibility for the Central Safeguarding Teams before being promoted in post as a substantive chief inspector in 2020.

In 2022 James moved into the Professional Standards Department, where he leads on counter corruption, complaints, and misconduct for the force. He works across two forces and regularly manages sensitive intelligence, cases, and reports into both executive and OPCC level.

James remains a passionate, committed, and professional police officer who is a credit to the service.