Derbyshire detectives win national award for Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking case

A team of Derbyshire detectives have won a national award for their work on a modern slavery and human trafficking case.

The team, led by Detective Inspector, Carl Chetwyn won the ‘Smarter Detective’ award category at last night’s Police Federation National Detectives Forum Awards in Birmingham.

They were awarded the accolade in recognition of Operation Doubrava a complex human trafficking and modern slavery case, which saw the team work jointly with Latvia State Police to investigate a large-scale organised crime gang. This multi-agency investigation also involved AP Phoenix, Europol, the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Crime Agency and Latvian authorities.

Despite the complex nature of the case, the team’s thorough and  intensive work resulted in nine of 11 defendants being sentenced to a total of 33 years in jail, with subsequent deportation orders to follow.

Detective Inspector Carl Chetwyn said:

”It’s absolutely amazing to win this award, which is recognition of a successful investigation that allowed us to safeguard many victims and potential victims.

“It was a team effort and we couldn’t have done it without the support of Superintendent Rick Alton who kickstarted the investigation.

“Congratulations to all of the other winners and nominees, it’s been brilliant to see some really great detective work being showcased.

“It goes without saying that as police officers we don’t do the job we do to win awards, but these Awards have been a really nice celebration of the work officers up and down the country do to make people that little bit safer.”