POLICE officers who dedicated themselves to cutting bike thefts and an off-duty hero who caught a burglar have been rewarded for their efforts.

Cleveland crime-fighter PC Brendan Lowes recently received a commendation from his force’s Chief Constable Iain Spitall for jumping to action when he witnessed a street theft.

PC Lowes was off-duty when he spotted a man trying to pull a handbag from a woman as he was driving along Hartburn Lane in Stockton.

The woman was shouting for help whilst trying to hold on to her handbag and PC Lowes braked sharply and ran from his vehicle to intervene.

The suspect ran off but PC Lowes managed to catch him and detained him whilst other officers arrived.

He then managed to identify property that the man had dropped nearby which was later found to belong to the victim.

Chief Con Spittal said: “PC Lowes acted instinctively to help a member of the public in need and he tackled the suspect without thought for his own safety, managing to detain the offender and preserve evidence from the scene until other officers arrived.

“The suspect was well known to police and was charged and remanded to court for burglary.

“For demonstrating integrity, selflessness and accountability in serving the public and helping to detect crime PC Brendan Lowes has been awarded a Chief Constable’s Commendation.”

In the latest round of commendations for Durham Police, PC Dave Williamson and former partnerships liaison officer Ian Martin were honoured for their work promoting a scheme which has slashed the number of bicycle thefts in County Durham and Darlington.

Both were awarded Chief Superintendent’s commendations for their roles with ‘Operation Spoke’, an initiative developed three-years-ago as a response to the soaring number of bike thefts in the region.

Mr Martin, who recently retired, and Barnard Castle-based PC Williamson have dedicated many hours to ensure the Durham Constabulary initiative has become a national example of ‘best practice’.

They also received a national award at the recent 2016 ‘Cycle Crime’ conference, for the development of a bespoke bike register frame and component marking kit.

There are now over 10,000 bikes registered through the Durham Constabulary scheme which has helped bring about a 25 per cent reduction in bicycle crime in the last 24 months.

Chief’s Commendations are handed out annually by the region’s forces.