North Wales Police’s special constabulary chief officer awarded MBE in the New Year’s Honours List

North Wales Police’s Special Constabulary Chief Officer has been awarded the honour of MBE in the New Year’s 2021 Honours List.

Mark Owen received the award for his services to Policing and to the community in the region, including during the Covid-19 response.

Mark, who is originally from Bangor but now lives near Denbigh, joined the force as constable in 1984 and has served across most of the force area within a wide range of roles and ranks.

His ongoing passion is road safety, in particular motorcycle related road safety, and he was heavily involved in the BikeSafe scheme locally and nationally. For many years he volunteered his time to assist as a BikeSafe observer.

He has been an active member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists for many years and until recently was the chair of the North Wales Advanced Motorcyclists.

During his service he worked on a number of national policing developments and during 2008 and 2009 he was seconded to work abroad as a command level mentor to senior police officers in post war Kosovo.

Shortly after his retirement in 2012 Mark returned to North Wales Police as a member of police staff, initially to support the modernisation of the forces response to Missing People.

Whilst in this role he additionally accepted the voluntary role of Special Constabulary Chief Officer, becoming the senior officer responsible for all the volunteer police officers within our Special Constabulary and in turn he became an active member of the force’s Senior Leadership Team.

Under Mark’s leadership the Special Constabulary doubled in size to nearly 200 officers and their capability and ability to support the regular force and our communities has been significantly professionalised via changes made to recruiting and training.

Mark went on to manage the Citizen’s in Policing business area, responsible for Police Support Volunteers and Cadets in addition to the Special Constabulary.

He also has a UK wide strategic role supporting the NPCC lead for the Special Constabulary and authored the National Strategy for the Special Constabulary on behalf of the police service.

He is the co-chair of the North Wales Police LGBT+ staff support network and played a key role as part of a team drawn from all 4 Welsh Forces in delivering the UK LGBT+ conference in Cardiff.

In 2020 he played a key role in the coordination of the volunteer response to COVID-19 across North Wales in his dual role as Special Constabulary Chief Officer and as Chair of the newly formed Pan North Wales Community Resilience Group.

As chair of the Community Resilience Group he helped coordinate the wider volunteering response to the pandemic, working with representatives from across North Wales including local authorities, volunteer councils and other organisations coming together to deal with challenges.

Tasks undertaken by volunteers during the pandemic have included prescription delivery, food parcel delivery, regular phone contact with the vulnerable, leaflet delivery, shopping assistance and community reassurance.

Mark has recently been selected to start a new role for the NPCC as the National Citizens in Policing Manager. This will allow him to further develop volunteering in the police service across England and Wales at a strategic level. Mark will though remain our Special Constabulary Chief Officer.

Responding to his recognition Mark said: “I am absolutely bowled over to have been nominated, and delighted to receive this honour which means a lot to me professionally and personally.”

“This last year has been especially difficult and challenging for so many of our communities and it’s been my privilege to have been able to work alongside so many inspiring people, both paid and volunteers, from a whole range of organisations who have all pulled together and worked relentlessly to support our communities.”

“I feel proud of what every volunteer and organisation has contributed and what we have collectively achieved here in North Wales.”

Chief Constable Carl Foulkes commented: “Mark has done so much for the communities of North Wales, the police force and in particular the Special Constabulary over his many years of exceptional service and this recognition is rightly deserved for someone who time and again goes above and beyond to make a real difference.”

Deputy Chief Constable Richard Debicki added: “Mark’s recognition in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours is absolutely deserved, and he has made a huge contribution to the area and its communities over many years.

“Speaking as the National Police Chief’s Lead for the Special Constabulary, I can say that the contribution he has made to the Special Constabulary locally, regionally and nationally has been particularly valuable and he should feel really proud for the difference has made.”