The King’s Birthday Honours 2024 - Police, Fire and Ambulance Service

King’s Police Medal

• Catriona Paton, Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland
• Alistair Cameron, Special Police Constable, Police Scotland

King’s Fire Service Medal

• Ross Haggart, Chief Officer, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Gary Carroll, Crew Commander, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Lorraine Taylor, Firefighter, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

King’s Ambulance Service Medal

• Liam Coughlan, Head of Programmes & Enabling Technology Manager, Scottish Ambulance Service

KING’S POLICE MEDAL

Catriona Paton, Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland

Catriona Paton joined Central Scotland Police in June 1991 after serving as a cadet, and has become one of Scotland’s most experienced hostage and crisis negotiators.

Early in her career she volunteered to lead on the development of a Negotiator Coordinator Course and secured on-call psychiatric advice which was made available to Police Scotland to support ongoing incidents and critical training for negotiators.

Chief Superintendent Paton volunteered as a negotiator for 16 years and was deployed to incidents including suicide interventions, sieges, kidnap and extortion cases and as part of the UK International Negotiator Cadre, where she travelled to Afghanistan supporting the release of a British National. She was also selected to represent Scotland on the National Crisis Negotiation Course with the FBI. In 2015, she developed and delivered a Counter Terrorism Negotiation Workshop on behalf of the National Negotiator Group and the then Chair, Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Chief Superintendent Paton led the Force Middle Office Remodelling project, a service wide transformation across Police Scotland. Taking up the role of Divisional Commander of the Lothians and Scottish Borders in 2022, she engaged with local partners and worked collaboratively to streamline community policing. She developed the ‘Act, Don’t React’ programme to provide staff with the confidence to communicate with people in crisis through understanding of human behaviour. Having held roles including operational and community postings; in criminal investigation; public protection; specialist crime and transformation she was appointed Chief Superintendent in July 2020.   

Alistair Cameron, Special Police Constable, Police Scotland

Alistair Cameron has been a volunteer Special Police Constable for 26 years. He has used his specialist knowledge and expertise to provide bespoke training to departments within the police to enhance understanding of the criminal production of controlled drugs and has taken up opportunities for development, completing training in public order offences; Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear learning and offshore emergency training. During the Covid-19 pandemic he used his business resources to support keeping officers and the public safe through manufacturing PPE which he provided to Police Scotland for operational use.

Special Constable Cameron created the Special Initiative Team, which planned proactive group work for Special Constables, supporting local policing priorities and improving the volunteering opportunities in the East of Scotland. He identified gaps in the national training process for newly recruited Special Constables, researching best practice from other constabularies across the UK. Working with a team he created a new framework to provide training and support to newly inducted Specials Constables, which is being reviewed by the Scottish Police College for a national roll out. He regularly mentors Special Constables to share experience and advice and has made a valued contribution to the Police service and communities they serve, demonstrating the core values and standards of Police Scotland.

KING’S FIRE SERVICE MEDAL

Ross Haggart, Chief Officer, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Ross Haggart led Scottish Fire and Rescue Service duties during Operation Unicorn, ensuring the safe passage of HM Queen Elizabeth II through Scotland and represented SFRS at King Charles’ III Honours of Scotland Coronation Event.

After joining Fife Fire Brigade in 1994 he transferred to Tayside Fire Brigade in 1998 before moving to Perth in 2006 to become Station Manager for Perth, Auchterarder, Comrie, Crieff and Kinross Community Fire Stations. In 2011 he was part of the team developing options for what would become the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). 

Following creation of SFRS in 2013, Chief Officer Haggart was appointed as Area Manager for Prevention and Protection and oversaw the design and delivery of national strategies. He has served in various senior roles before being appointed as Deputy Chief Officer in 2020. During the Covid-19 pandemic he was integral in delivering initiatives such as using fire stations as vaccination and testing centres and enlisting SFRS staff to deliver medication and supplies across Scotland.

Throughout his career Chief Officer Haggart has managed many serious incidents as a Strategic Incident Commander. He was the most senior officer in attendance at the Stonehaven rail disaster, leading the Multi Agency Gold Command whilst providing mentoring support to the Incident Commander.

Appointed as Interim Chief Officer in July 2022, he became Chief Officer on a permanent basis in March 2023. He supports charitable organisations and international aid efforts including assisting the fire service in Ukraine with SFRS equipment and working with Fire Aid Nepal, a project creating a fire and rescue service in the Everest region, where he arranged the provision of decommissioned equipment, SFRS staff volunteers and his expertise to the Nepalese Government. Ross is a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Firefighters Charity and the National Fire Chief’s Council.

Gary Carroll, Crew Commander, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Gary Carroll was sent to the Stockline plastics explosion in Glasgow 2004 on behalf of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team and this experience led to his interest in search and rescue dog handling and the training of his first dog. He went on to join the UK International Search and Rescue Team K9 Section. Crew Commander Carroll has worked with the team since 2007 and has been deployed oversees to locations including Sumatra, Indonesia 2009; Christchurch, New Zealand 2011; Nepal 2015 and Morocco 2023.

He has been a member of Fire Service in Scotland for more than 30 years. His career began as a Retained Firefighter in Ballater in 1993, before becoming a Wholetime Firefighter in 1999, stationed in Aberdeen. After several years working operationally, Gary moved to his current role in 2009 where he has worked as part of the training team as an Instructor, Scottish International Search and Rescue Team Leader and Search Dog Handler at the Joint Scottish Fire Investigation Training and Research Facility in Portlethen. He has provided training to new and experienced firefighters in dealing with road traffic collisions, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) techniques, Breathing Apparatus and Fire Behaviour.

Crew Commander Carroll regularly volunteers his time to support community engagements across Scotland, including school visits, fire station open days, work with community groups, multi-agency training and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service events and ceremonies. He also continues to raise the profile of rescue work and share his experiences through national and international media. 

Lorraine Taylor, Firefighter, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Lorraine Taylor joined Tarbert Community Fire Station in April 1992 and became one of Scotland’s first female On Call Firefighters. After 31 years of service, Firefighter Taylor is now believed to be the longest serving female firefighter in Scotland. Alongside this, she is the Diversity Champion for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service On Call stations, regularly taking part in events aimed at recruiting more females into the service. She identified and helped drive forward initiatives to attract underrepresented groups into the fire service, most recently with a project to engage and recruit displaced people from Ukraine living across the Argyll and Bute area.

During her time at Tarbert Community Fire Station Firefighter Taylor has led fundraising efforts which have raised over £60,000 for local charities, projects and the Firefighters Charity. As well as working full time for Calmac as a Senior Port Assistant based at Kennacraig, she has used knowledge gained from her day job and experience as an On Call Firefighter, to set up a community group which works with local schools to improve water safety and supports visiting yacht crews with advice on water safety and safe cooking on boats. Her station regularly trains with the Scottish Ambulance Service and the local Coastguard, who worked together to deliver lifesaving CPR and defibrillator training to all school children in the Tarbert area.

KING’S AMBULANCE SERVICE MEDAL

Liam Coughlan, Head of Programmes & Enabling Technology Manager, Scottish Ambulance Service

Liam Coughlan has been an integral part of the support and coordination of some of Scottish Ambulance Service’s largest programmes of work and recently served as the lead for the Rest Break Programme Board and the Integrated Clinical Hub. He ensured that the Rest Break Programme Board was coordinated to give frontline colleagues regular rest breaks, facilitating the smooth running of key services which enables the Scottish Ambulance Service to help 13,000 patients every month.

Liam previously led the Enabling Technology programme in line with Scottish Ambulance Service 2020 strategy as well as leading a number of projects including Ambulance Tele-health, Emergency Services Network and Defibrillator replacement projects.

Background

Nominations are made by Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Scottish Ambulance Service. The Scottish Government facilitates a panel to consider and agree which nominations are advanced.