Dean’s unwavering support for his colleague in the face of danger makes him a STAR

Our STAR Award aims to reward the people we’re proud to have on our AM Services Group for their positive actions and behaviours and for demonstrating these at work and in daily life.

Our security officer Dean Atkinson can usually be found performing his duties at Riverside Shopping Centre. However, the STAR Award has been made to him for his recent actions while he was helping out at our client site in Wythenshawe Town Centre.
 
Wythenshawe Town Centre supervisor Callum Harrison was patrolling with Dean when they were called to an incident at one of the town centre stores.
 
The radio call was for an urgent report that two men had attempted to steal some bottles of wine and one was armed with a large and dangerous-looking Pitbull dog. Unbeknown to our officers, the staff in store had been threatened with a dog attack by the men. The employees were trapped inside, too frightened to leave, and were trying to mime the severity of the situation to Dean and Callum through the shop window as they approached.

Dean and Callum were assessing the situation when one of the men became highly aggressive and verbally abusive towards them. He moved towards them with the dog, shouting, “attack!”.
 
When the man saw that Dean and Callum had no intention of backing down and were determined to protect the staff and retrieve the goods, he eventually backed down and returned the bottles. The two men were instructed to leave site immediately by our officers, while the store staff felt confident enough to come out of the shop and were extremely thankful for Callum and Dean’s actions.

Callum nominated Dean for a STAR award as he demonstrated stoic bravery and exemplary conduct & professionalism.

Our Senior Management Team also agreed that Dean demonstrated great courage in his support for a colleague in a dangerous situation.