Retired Police Chief Inspector James Thomas Nixon has been awarded a B.E.M., Medallist of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the Police and the community in Northern Ireland, in the Birthday Honours, announced at the weekend. 
Chief Inspector Nixon, a Fermanagh man, served in Ballynahinch, Strangford, Comber, Dundonald, Lisnaskea, Omagh, Special Patrol Group, Complaints and Discipline, Ormiston, Armagh and Enniskillen, Strabane and Dungannon. 
He was ambushed in a terrorist gun attack at his home. Despite being critically injured and flown by helicopter to the Royal Victoria Hospital, within months he returned to his former duties. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science. 
For many years, he has been People’s Glebe Warden of St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen. He is a member of the Select Vestry and a member of a panel engaged in major renovations to the Church Halls.
In his farming interests, he is a conservationist having hosted school bus trips to his farm, where he runs a Limousin suckler herd.
In response to the announcement of his honour at the weekend, Mr. Nixon, who is also affectionately known as Jim, said this week that “in retirement one does not seek or expect to receive recognition, this is indeed a pleasant surprise.”
He is married to Eileen and they have a family of three children, David, Janet and Stephen, and eight grandchildren.