COMPUTER specialist Rob Green, from South Moor, has become the first civilian to win Durham Police's top annual award.

Mr Green, 49, the force's system support manager, has won the Matt Wilkinson Trophy, given for outstanding police work and ideas that make a major contribution to force efficiency.

He and three colleagues developed a computer system that can dip into the force's central repository containing details on incidents, crimes and arrests. Leading computer firms were unable to come up with a system that met the force's needs.

Ultimately the system will give information on crime patterns and offending hot-spots and will link to similar systems in neighbouring forces.

Mr Green said: "This was no solo performance, it was a team effort every step of the way.''

Dog handler PC Daryl Edmunds and his dog Sam won the John Turner Award - for disarming a man with a knife at Bishop Auckland and catching a burglar who had stolen computers from a school at Willington.

The Probationer of the Year was shared by PC James Somersall, 23, of the Chester-le-Street and Durham division, and Darlington-based PC David Nunn, 29.