Newly qualified officer PC Wienand has been nominated for the National Police Bravery Awards after confronting armed raiders in the early hours of the morning.
PC Andrew Wienand, 30, clad only in boxer shorts, fended off five jewel thieves after hearing a disturbance outside his South-West London flat. Before the suspects rode off in mopeds, Wienand suffered cuts to his feet and narrowly avoided a pickaxe thrown at his head. At the time, he had only been part of his response team for two weeks.
The gang reportedly carried pickaxes and sledgehammers while raiding the Barnes Jewellery Company.
PC Wienand said: “I saw him raise the pickaxe – I know it sounds cliché, but time does slow. I thought the only way to get at him, because he’s going to try and smash my head in with a pickaxe, is to run at him.”
Despite being woken at 3:30AM, Wienand arrived for his shift in the Met Police’s Central West BCU response team the next morning.
At the time, his commanding officer Sally Benatar said: “The bravery of this officer undoubtedly stopped the suspects from stealing anything from the premises. He is a brand new officer merely days into his role as a PC and he should be very proud of his actions. I have spoken to him today to thank him for his outstanding efforts.”
In the year since, PC Wienand has been nominated for the National Police Bravery Award for outstanding courage.
“It was a flight or fight response. I’ve been pumped ever since I heard I was nominated. I think my parents would be incredibly proud. I know my family here in the UK are just so proud. My 80 year old grandmother’s going down to the coffee shop going, ‘My grandson did this’,” PC Wienand said.
Next time, though, he “[hope’d he’d] have more clothes on!”
Since his nomination was announced, local residents have applauded the young PC’s ‘splendid act of bravery’, and the announcement on social media platform nextdoor has garnered more than one hundred and fifty likes.
The 25th National Police Bravery Awards has been postponed this summer due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.