Haringey's star forensic gets personal praise from Met chief (From This Is Local London)

Haringey's star forensic gets personal praise from Met chief

1:21pm Thursday 12th August 2010 in

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MET Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson visited Haringey to personally praise an exemplary forensic officer whose enthusiastic approach to her job and attention to detail has helped close several cases.

Cass Paton, an assistant forensic practitioner, has been with Haringey police for the past two years of her nine-year career and was awarded an ACPO commendation for her work as part of the tsunami relief operation in 2004.

The dedicated professional helped to identify bodies and provide closure to many families left devastated after losing loved ones in the Indian Ocean disaster.

This year she received a commendation from borough commander Chief Superintendant Dave Grant in helping to uncover crucial DNA evidence in the case of Edmonton scaffolder Richard Baumoller who raped and burgled a pregnant Tottenham woman.

Sir Paul said: "I think my job as a leader or a manager is to catch the people who are doing good things. That's the greatest part of my job, to know there are people who are working as hard as they can to do a good job and thanking them for it. It's an important part of leadership."

Mrs Paton had dreamed of becoming a forensic officer as a young girl, but had to abandon her A-levels to work full-time in Tesco to help contribute to the family income after her father was made redundant.

After seeing a vacancy in forensics on the Met Police website, she took a chance and applied for the job.

She said: "I was over the moon. It is all I have ever wanted to do since I was a young girl.

"The best part of my job is getting results and to know that I helped bring a case to a close. It's not as glamorous as it seems on TV, but it is very fulfilling."

Sir Paul praised her for overcoming obstacles to become a well respected member of the team.

Mrs Paton, who is incredibly modest about her impressive track record, said: "I see these things as ways to better me as a person, not setbacks."