Background

Cariol Horne was fired by the Buffalo, NY police department in 2008, because of an incident in which she physically forced a colleague to release his chokehold on a suspect while making an arrest.

It was argued at the time that she had put her fellow officers at risk. She had been a police officer for 19 years and was one year short of receiving her pension when she was fired. It was not until April 2021 that her fight for her pension proved successful, it had been withheld from her until then.

Since 2008, Horne has been campaigning to pass a law in New York to protect officers who attempt to stop excessive force by their colleagues.

In 2020, Horne’s efforts to pass what was initially known as ‘Cariol’s Law’ were successful, and the ‘Duty to Intervene’ law was passed in Buffalo, requiring officers to step in and stop their colleagues from using excessive force.

Cariol Horne Award of the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing

The Cambridge Centre launched the Cariol Horne Award in 2021.

Its purpose is to recognise police who stand up to violations of the rule of law anywhere in the world, at any point in history.

The Centre accepts nominations at any time and the award will give out one award each year.