THE officer responsible for policing in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot has been awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) for distinguished service.

South Wales Police chief superintendent Mark Mathias said be was "very humbled" to be granted the honour for doing what he considered his duty to the community.

The 48-year-old said: "In the police force our main purpose is to work with and for the communities that we serve.

"Very often we respond to other people's tragedies and misfortunes — to receive an award for carrying out what I see as my duty is very humbling."

Mr Mathias, from a Hendy mining family, joined South Wales Police as a 16-year-old cadet in 1980.

Two years later he became a PC, his first beat being Mumbles.

He rose through the ranks and became a CID detective before project managing what would later become Tarian, the all-Wales serious and organised crime unit.

He went on to be the force's superintendent in charge of major incidents before returning to Swansea as chief super, and then as the head of the merged Swansea and Neath Port Talbot division.

Russell Roberts, chairman of the South Wales Police Authority, said: "This is a richly deserved honour for a hard-working individual who has served the force and the community so well."