Two forces, two videos, two stories released within days of each other. Neither incident has anything to do with the other: one is a night-time water rescue in rural Northamptonshire, the other a burglary in a Nottingham suburb. But line them up, and the same number keeps turning up. Three special constables saved one man’s life on the River Nene. Three burglars were arrested after a newly qualified police dog picked up their putrid stench. Sometimes a number is just a coincidence. This time it made for two stories worth telling together.
At 19:40 hours on Thursday 30 July, Northamptonshire Police received a call expressing concern for the welfare of a man near Warmington, close to the Cambridgeshire border. What followed was a search lasting nearly four hours, involving Northampton Search and Rescue, the National Police Air Service helicopter, and three special constables who would end the night soaked, exhausted, and credited with saving a life.
Special Constable Sophie Hyde was on her very first shift. It was Hyde who spotted the man in the River Nene, close to Elton Quarry, at around 23:20 hours, after a member of the public found his rucksack abandoned by the water’s edge. She held a torch out across the water so her colleague, Special Constable Lorna Montecalvo, could see well enough to swim out to him.
Montecalvo, a fitness professional in her day job, went into the water in pitch darkness not knowing how deep it was. “The only thing that was going through my head was, ‘I’ve got to get in, I’ve got to get there quick and I’ve got to swim out,’” she said. “My survival mode kicked in. I was determined, my three children popped into my head and I thought, I’ve got to get back for them.”
“I just reached up and he got me and pulled me the last few feet in because I was on my last breath. I was absolutely exhausted.” — SC Lorna Montecalvo
The third member of the trio, Special Constable Pete Isom, cannot swim. He went into the water regardless, holding onto reeds to keep contact with the bank, and reached out to help pull Montecalvo and the man to safety. “I don’t consider myself a hero at all,” he said. “If we were not in police uniform, we’d have still done the same thing.”
All three worked with the member of the public who had raised the alarm to get the man out of the river and to safety. Hyde, reflecting on her first ever shift as a volunteer officer, said simply: “You don’t do it to be a hero, you do it to help people and save lives.”
Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet did not hold back in his praise. “They represent the very best of policing,” he said. “They saved this man’s life, and we are extremely lucky to have them at Northamptonshire Police.” He also thanked the member of the public whose sharp eyes on that rucksack likely made the difference between a rescue and a recovery.
Just over three weeks later and 70 miles away, a different set of officers faced a different kind of emergency. At around 02:30 hours on Friday 21 August, Nottinghamshire Police were called to a pub on Western Boulevard in Wollaton after reports that multiple people had broken in. The pub had been ransacked, with jewellery, stocks of alcohol and car keys among the stolen items.
Among the officers who raced to the scene were PC James Sills and his dog, PD Kylo, a Belgian Malinois who had only completed his initial training in April. Within seconds of arriving, Kylo picked up a scent and began tracking it down neighbouring streets, eventually leading his handler straight to the front door of one particular house. PC Sills raised the alarm, and when officers checked the address, they found three men matching the burglars’ description inside.
Three men, aged 34, 34 and 42, were arrested on suspicion of burglary.
“This incident showcased exactly why we deploy police dogs when investigating a crime. The team did a fantastic job quickly tracking to this address, which was found to contain three burglary suspects. PD Kylo is a young dog but it’s fair to say he’s made a very impressive start to his policing career and is a great addition to our department.” — Sergeant Nicholas Dachtler, Nottinghamshire Police dog section
For a dog barely four months into the job, tracking a scent through residential streets in the middle of the night to the exact address where three suspects were hiding is not a bad way to introduce yourself to the neighbourhood.
What connects these two stories, beyond the number, is something ESN Report keeps coming back to: the ordinary people who make up frontline policing, volunteers and full-timers alike, keep doing extraordinary things. Special constables, police officers who volunteer their time to help others, risking their own lives to save a complete stranger. And a young general purpose police dog, not even out of his first year of service, did exactly the job he was trained for when it mattered most.
None of this makes headlines on the scale of a major incident or a court case. It rarely does. But it is the kind of emergency services response work that keeps rivers from claiming lives and burglars from getting away with it, and it deserves the same attention we give the bigger, darker stories.
The man rescued from the River Nene is understood to have fully recovered. Northamptonshire Police have confirmed all three special constables remain on duty with the force. In Nottinghamshire, police released the three men arrested in Wollaton pending further inquiries as the burglary investigation continues. PD Kylo, meanwhile, is reported to be settling well into his role with the force’s dog section, with his handler PC Sills expecting plenty more call-outs to come.
ESN Report will continue to highlight the everyday acts of bravery and skill across UK emergency services, whether they come with a headline-grabbing number attached or not.
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