Pc Sinclair says his job involves talking to the community

Pc Keith Sinclair came second in the Jane's Police Review Community Police Officer of the Year Award.

Judges praised his efforts, which included learning the language, mostly in his own time, and also travelling to the country.

Divisional commander Chief Supt Phill Thomson said he was delighted Pc Sinclair's work had been recognised.

He said: "He has worked extremely hard to develop his Polish language skills and this has proved of immense value to both the Polish community and to the division."

If you want to learn a language properly you have to put the hours in Pc Keith Sinclair

Pc Sinclair was honoured at an awards ceremony in London on Thursday night attended by Home Secretary John Reid and Police Minister Tony McNulty.

He came second out of 117 officers nominated from 46 police forces across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

An estimated 10,000 Polish people now live in Wrexham, many of whom moved after their country joined the European Union in 2004.

The numbers have grown so much that North Wales Police are considering recruiting Polish-speaking officers.

The judges said they were impressed with Pc Sinclair's efforts to establish links with the community.

Organised crime

He has had business cards printed in Polish, and encourages people to ring him with their problems.

As a result, he has submitted more than 100 intelligence reports and identified a number of people with links to organised crime in Poland.

Explaining why he learned Polish, Pc Sinclair said: "My point of view is to get a lot of background information on people to find out who's here, what's going on.

"There might not be a problem, but it's better to know there's no problem than to have a problem and not know about it."

He learned Polish by studying at least two hours a day, mostly in his own time.

He added: "If you want to learn a language properly you have to put the hours in, it's as simple as that."

The awards highlight the work of officers on the beat who are not attached to high-profile units or squads and who rarely make the headlines.

The Community Police Officer of the Year Award was presented to Sgt Malcolm Wallace from Northumbria Police, with PC Krys Urbaniak from Greater Manchester Police in third place.