Trevor Willis

Said the following about Aaron Marshall:

“I have worked with the South West Trains Rail Community Officers (RCOs) for a number of years as a Police Coordinator. I have worked with Aaron Marshall when he was the Guildford Rail Community Team Leader and subsequently promoted to RCO Manager. One thing that Aaron is clearly very passionate about is the relationship between the British Transport Police (BTP) and the RCO teams. He researched and introduced the current radio system being used by the RCOs. He realised that in order to be more effective the teams needed to have a better communication system with the BTP which was linked to the GPS system. Since the introduction of these radios the teams are able to be directly deployed by the BTP control room to low level incidents freeing up Police Officers for the more urgent calls. It also ensures the control room is able to locate the officers should assistance be required. A key reason Aaron wanted this introduced was to improve the safety of his officers. As the RCO manager, Aaron has worked tirelessly to recruit, interview and introduce new recruits resulting in a large intake of new officers this year. He has turned the grade into a team he can be proud of changing attitudes and encouraging the teams to be more and more productive. This has to have had an affect on the crime figures on the network making it increasingly difficult for criminals to carry out their activities on the railway without being challenged. The relationship between the Rail Community Teams and the British Transport Police Officers has never been stronger and this is due to Aaron's persistent efforts to work in partnership with the BTP recognising that working together makes the railway a safer place not only for the passengers but for the staff. I feel that Aaron should be recognised for these efforts in improving the safety of the railway, reducing crime on the network and improving the safety of his staff.“

Alessandro Finistrella

Said the following about Aaron Marshall:

“I am proud to nominate Aaron Marshall for the outstanding level of engagement and support shown to the BTP. The improvements and the ideas they have brought to the accredited grade have benefitted Southwestrains, BTP, Network Rail and our passengers and staff.

In January 2015 a project aimed at bridging the communication gap between the Rail Community Officers (RCOs) and the BTP was successfully submitted by Aaron. This was identified as an issue since RCOs and BTP were closely working together but not communicating through the same channels despite being equipped with Airwave radios. Aaron submitted a business case to the BTP which involved RCOs being equipped with GPS radios which were visible on the BTP Mapping system, allowing the BTP to deploy RCOs to low level crime offences resulting in closer partnership and benefit for both BTP and SWT. Additionally this also meant benefit for the passengers as it would allow for faster response times to specific incidents. This is something we are extremely proud of as other TOCs have expressed their interested in, following the same route providing BTP with extra support and resources.

The benefits of this initiative for our passengers, SWT and the BTP can be summed up as follows:

• 35 extra resources are now being available to the BTP for low level

crime issues

• Faster response time as an RCOs might be closer than a PC to the

location where assistance is needed for the benefit of our

passengers and staff

• Less pressure on BTP Officers

• Higher visibility for both BTP & RCOs

• Increase public perception and confidence

• Positive impact on the National Railway Passenger Survey results

• Higher detection rates

• Reduce delays as a result of faster response

• Joint targets achieved (Theft of passenger property, cycle theft,

assaults, graffiti, trespass, fatalities)

Lastly I would like to add that Aaron came up and developed the “Off the Rails” scheme project and allowed for South West Trains’ RCO Tim Joy to win the National award “Railway Safety Accredited Scheme” Member of the year 2014. To put it into perspective we were competing with all the national TOCs!

Another of Aaron’s great idea that has been a huge success for the last 4 years and benefitted all, South West Trains, BTP and the Portsmouth Community !

The examples above are a reflection of Aaron’s engagement and commitment at providing a safer environment for our colleagues and passengers to work and travel and ultimately towards the BTP objectives. I truly believe they each demonstrate the VITAL behaviours of value-adding, innovative, teamwork, active and leaders. This is why I have decided to nominate Aaron for Rail manager of the Year 2016!“