Former Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Holland awarded Queen's Police Medal in New Year's Ho

Following the announcement that former Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Holland, who is now Director of Investigations at the National Crime Agency, has been awarded a Queen's Police Medal in the Queen’s New Year Honours for her work with Merseyside Police, Chief Constable Andy Cooke, said: "I have known Nikki for nearly 30 years and I am delighted that she has been recognised in this New Year Honours list.

"Nikki has always been passionate about the police service and followed in her dad’s footsteps when she joined Merseyside Police as a constable in 1988, she is actually the fourth generation of her family to serve with the police. 28 years of Nikki’s service was with Merseyside Police and she worked her way up the ranks with extensive service in CID.

"Nikki is a very determined and independent person, who has always given her utmost throughout her career. Nikki is a very proud person and managed a full on career alongside bringing up her son, Daniel, single handed. Throughout her career Nikki has had the full support of her mum and son and has been a role model and inspiration to other women within policing.

"I am sure members of the public will also join me in thanking her for her commitment to serving the public of Merseyside."

Nikki Holland, 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. I would like to thank my mum; husband Dave and son Daniel for all the support they have given and continue to give me. 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. This is an important honour, not just for me, but for my husband, son and two step daughters who continue to support me in my law enforcement career.

"I spent most of my time in the police as a detective in Liverpool South and Sefton and was the lead on numerous murder inquiries, firearm discharge investigations and other major incidents. I was promoted to Superintendent in St Helens in 2009 and three years later was promoted to Area Commander for Sefton.

"I was fortunate to work with some fantastic people during my police service and have always been a strong advocate for women in policing and believe that it is important to provide support and guidance for other women in the service who want to make a difference.

"I followed my dad into the service and was proud to follow in his footsteps. The police service gives you the ability to support vulnerable people and communities across Merseyside and the UK, whilst at the same time taking positive action in relation to those who are committing most harm in our communities through their involvement in serious and organised crime. I love every minute of my career in law enforcement and I am delighted to have been given the QPM for a job I thoroughly enjoy and love."

Nikki Holland's biography

Nikki Holland - who comes from Merseyside and is married to Dave and has one son, Daniel, and two step daughters, Jasmine and Jade - joined Merseyside Police in 1988 as a Constable.

She was initially posted to North Liverpool, Merseyside and went on to work in other areas of Knowsley and Liverpool South.

Whilst at Merseyside Police she spent the majority of her service as a detective and was Senior Investigating Officer in Liverpool South and Sefton. She has led on numerous murder enquiries, firearms discharge investigations, other major incidents and the Force Diversity Programme in 2007.

Following her promotion to uniform Superintendent in St. Helens in 2009, Nikki led the reduction of crime and disorder across every aspect of policing and was a key member of the Safeguarding Children Board and other partnership forums. She successfully introduced the process of targeting Organised Crime Groups within the Merseyside force area.

In 2012 Nikki was promoted to Area Commander for Sefton. During this time she led local policing, response policing, investigations and intelligence for one of the busiest command units in Merseyside and was Gold Commander and Senior Firearms Commander in a number of high profile incidents involving serious and organised crime which affected some of Merseyside’s most vulnerable communities.

In 2014 Nikki successfully passed the Senior Police National Assessment Centre. She joined South Wales Police in June 2014 as Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for Specialist Crime, which included the Joint Scientific Investigation Unit, Major Crime and Force Intelligence. She was also the Regional ACC for Tarian (Regional Organised Crime Unit) and Wales Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit taking the Chief Officer strategic lead role on numerous Counter Terrorism, Drug, Cyber and International CSE operations.

During her time with South Wales Police, Nikki enjoyed a number of key successes across her wide ranging portfolio which included leading the police response to the publication of the video ‘No Life without Jihad’. Nikki worked tirelessly with the local Islamic Community to prevent radicalisation and improve community relations.

Nikki was the South Wales Police lead for protecting vulnerable people, an area of business close to her heart and was passionate in her role of leading the fight against Child Sexual Exploitation and Violence against Women and Girls. She was instrumental in establishing the multi-agency Safeguarding Hub as well as developing the ‘All Wales CSE Action Plan’.

Nikki worked closely with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office in particular around Violence against Women and Girls and was a key note speaker at a number of conferences. In August 2014, she became the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Sex Working and to date has liaised with partners, local authorities and other forces to implement National Police Sex Work Guidance, which has now been published. She has worked closely with law enforcement agencies, local authorities and charities including “Ugly Mugs” to prevent the criminalisation of sex workers, encourage crime reporting from them and to prevent them from becoming exploited vulnerable victims. As part of this she appeared as a witness before the Home Affairs Select Committee into prostitution.

In January 2015, Nikki returned back to Merseyside as ACC with responsibility for investigation, intelligence, serious and organised Crime and TITAN Regional Organised Crime Unit.

Her role in Merseyside involved proactive, covert and reactive investigation of firearms offences, murders and serious and organised crime. Nikki also had the strategic lead for protecting vulnerable people and was a key member of the Merseyside Vulnerability Forum.

Nikki’s role in TITAN was leading the North West’s fight against serious and organised crime. She also had operational staff and teams focused on cybercrime and Child Sexual Exploitation throughout the region.

In December 2016, she took over as Chair of the Women’s Chief Officer Network group and has driven the group to encourage women as an underrepresented group to seek promotion. She has coordinated mentoring for women by senior colleagues including Chief Constables and has spent a great deal of her own time mentoring and encouraging these women and has led by example.

She was responsible for leading on the highly successful International Association of Women in Policing event which celebrated 100 years of women in policing. This celebrated the achievement of women in policing around the world and showcased what we have achieved here at home in the United Kingdom.

Whilst in this role she has travelled to the USA, Australia and Dubai to share the achievements of British law enforcement and develop international relationships with partners.

In April 2017, Nikki was promoted to Director of Investigations in the National Crime Agency. She has responsibility for the management of NCA Investigations, in response to serious and organised crime. She also has responsibility in her portfolio for specialist investigations, border command, economic crime, serious crime review, CSAE, economic crime, specialist support including the armed operations unit, forensics and technical operations alongside all national investigations.

Nikki continues to take the lead on national and international investigations as Platinum Commander on some of the most serious and high profile investigations in the country and continues to be a Strategic Firearms Commander taking the lead role in firearms operations throughout the UK.

Nikki represents the National Crime Agency as the SPOC on the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group to establish and coordinate international work between the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the FBI in the USA. She has also taken the Lead on the Going Dark Working Group and works closely with the International Command and the NCA Cybercrime team in order to promote best practice for intelligence and information sharing and to find the best ways to stay ahead of serious criminals and tackle the Dark Web.

In 2018 Nikki became the NCA lead for County Lines and is working closely with Assistant Commissioner Duncan Ball to tackle high level criminals exploiting vulnerable people and children to transport drugs across the UK. She will once again represent law enforcement at a Home Affairs Committee Enquiry early in January 2019.

Nikki is also the lead for the NCA’s EMBRACE Network (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) group. Nikki has worked hard to understand the needs of this group and to promote LGBT and diversity issues at several key national events including PRIDE. She has also arranged and spoke at Trans educational events, promoted Trans issues and helped to implement the Trans toolkit for officers. Nikki acts as a constant source of encouragement and champions LGBT rights across the agency and within law enforcement.

Nikki is a PIP 3 accredited Senior Investigation Officer and a Strategic Firearms and Public Order Commander and also has a BSC (Honours) in Psychology and a Masters’ Degree in Forensic Psychology.