A former St Helens Superintendent has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the New Year’s Honours Nikki Holland served as Superintendent in the borough from 2009 to 2012 and is currently Director of Investigations at the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Nikki said: “Receiving the QPM is a tremendous honour. When I joined the police force 30 years ago I never dreamed I would go on to lead the fight against serious and organised crime across two forces, regions and nationally as a Director in the National Crime Agency.
“As a fourth generation police officer in my family I feel incredibly proud and privileged to serve the public in the job I do and for being recognised in this way.”
Nikki joined Merseyside Police in 1988 spending much of her time as a detective and climbing up through the ranks before leaving to become Assistant Chief Constable at South Wales Police in 2014. As ACC she took on responsibility for the ‘Tarian’ Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), plus counter terrorism, drug, cyber and international CSE operations.
In January 2015, Nikki returned back to Merseyside as ACC with responsibility for investigation, intelligence, serious and organised crime and the TITAN north-west regional ROCU. In April 2017, Nikki was promoted to Director of Investigations for the National Crime Agency with responsibility for the agency’s investigative teams, specialist units and technical operations.
Lynne Owens, NCA Director General, said: “I am so pleased to see Nikki’s service recognised in this way. Not only has she worked tirelessly to protect the public from some of the most serious criminals but she has also dedicated more time than many to develop and support others.”
