Student officers fresh out of police academy earned their badges after they were confronted by a man brandishing a knife.

The four new bobbies PC Tracy Rome, PC Louis Morley, PC Matthew Tear and PC Gregory Smith were commended for their act of bravery just five days into their new job.

The students had only been on public patrols for three days, together with tutors PC Hannah Bish and PC James Price, when they responded to a call that a man was holding a knife to a person's throat at a pub in Eastbourne.

PC Bish's group of students stopped the man as he walked away from the pub during the incident in November last year. He then pulled the knife on the group and waived it in their faces.

The officers ordered the man to put the knife down and were ignored.

The three officers were then joined by PC Price and his two students and together they successfully disarmed the man and arrested him.

PC Bish praised the students and said: “Safety towards the students and the public was my main concern and I'm very proud of how everyone reacted to the incident.”

The six were given their awards at a ceremony in Hailsham when they were honoured alongside other police officers.

Speaking afterwards PC Louis Morley said: “I felt pretty happy about the award although it was a team effort.

“I was a bit nervous because we hadn't dealt with anything like that before but I was happy we got him.”

Eastbourne officer Scott Franklin-Lester was commended for arresting seven suspected drug dealers over a five week period in three separate incidents.

He confiscated £10,500 worth of drugs after responding to resident complaints.

Inspector Lee Lyons, from Rother, was commended for his leadership and decision making following a call from the Hellingly Hospital about an AWOL patient.

The inspector's actions meant the patient was found before he harmed either himself or anybody else.

PC Kyle Mann and PCSO Julia Hutchison, from Hastings, were commended for arresting a man while they were off-duty. The citation to their award said their actions prevented the situation escalating into serious violence.

Several other officers were also commended for their actions in preventing burglaries and rounding up prolific local offenders.