Analysts, Research, and Scientific support

My role is to design, develop, direct and advise upon operational service delivery within the Regional Scientific Support Services. I have specific responsibility for Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and Forensic Collision Investigation (FCI), including dedicated CSI/FCI Training services and a dedicated Forensic Control Room to the four forces within the Yorkshire and Humber region.

What I enjoy most is leading an area of business that I am passionate about, having worked many roles at all levels throughout my career. I am privileged to be able to influence local, regional and national direction with regards to forensic support to police investigations and ensure my team contribute to crime disruption and investigation as positively as we can.

I graduated from university with a Forensic Science degree and further study in Information Systems over 22 years ago. My first job was with West Yorkshire Police as a Forensic Vehicle Examiner, then promoted to a Scenes of Crime Officer. I spent a year working for Greater Manchester Police as a Volume Crime Scene Supervisor and Acting Senior CSI before moving back to West Yorkshire as a CSI Supervisor/Crime Scene Manager where I also took on a number of innovative projects.

After regionalisation of Scientific Support Services across Yorkshire and Humber, I became an Area Forensic Manager/Crime Scene Coordinator, introducing a regional control room and mobile data solutions to CSI. In 2018 I became the Head of Operations (currently Acting Director) of Regional Scientific Support Services.

My greatest achievement is the introduction of an end-to-end mobile data solution for CSIs which removed duplication of tasks by integrating with back office systems, improving accuracy of CSI notes, and enablinng the printing of exhibit labels and fingerprints to be sent from the scene for rapid suspect identification. This really improved the efficiency of CSI work processes, professionalised what we did and sped up the identification of suspects.

I am currently on secondment with Leicestershire Police Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) as a Quality and Performance Officer for two years. I normally work as a team leader at EMSOU-FS Fingerprint and DNA laboratory.

All England SARCs need to be accredited to ISO 15189 and FSR Codes of Practice compliant by October 2025, so I am helping them with their accreditation.

I am currently liaising with Forensic Nurse Examiners and Crisis Workers at the SARC and documenting their processes and procedures whilst ensuring they are compliant with the ISO standard. I also get to do some practical training with them on DNA anti- contamination and forensic cleaning methods.

I have acquired these skills by being a Forensic Scientist for 20 years and working in DNA laboratories. I chair monthly quality meetings with SARC management and control the electronic management system that all SARC staff have access to, in order to read and download documents.

In my SARC quality role, I love meeting new people and training staff on implementing new processes and procedures. I want to keep things simple for staff and make their role less bureaucratic, so I'm trying to look for ways to streamline processes, and make their jobs more efficient and easier.

As a forensic team leader, I love being innovative with the new technologies in fingerprint enhancement and really like empowering staff to tap into their potential with training courses and ideas that they are passionate in.

I got into the SARC Quality role after being an ISO Technical Manager for nine years in a forensic laboratory, and so I wanted to explore more in the field of quality and standards, and be a part of an implementation project.

As for my fingerprint laboratory role, I used to work at FSS and wanted to explore a different field of forensics other than DNA so applied for a fingerprint laboratory officer job and was so glad I did. I love going to crime scenes and having practical work to complete in the laboratory.

It is such a success when you get a positive DNA hit or fingerprint on any crime you work on, and you feel a sense of pride as you are providing justice. It was such a relief when the fingerprint laboratory was first accredited status as I helped implement this and have maintained that accreditation for the past nine years. It just goes to show that quality standards are very high in forensic science.

I’m a Senior Research Officer within the College of Policing's research community, specifically focused on violence against women and girls. I am currently spending most of my time working on the evaluation of video response to domestic abuse. Some of the tasks I have been working on recently include:

• Creating tailored evaluation plans for each force
• Reviewing a Data Protection Impact Assessment and information sharing agreements with forces
• Designing survey questions and interview topic guides

I’m also responsible for managing the Government Social Research Degree Apprenticeship Programme (GSRDAP). This involves creating job advertisements and role profiles, interviewing candidates and organising vetting and onboarding.

I really enjoy that we have the opportunity to collaborate with such a wide range of stakeholders across policing and government. Throughout the week I often have meetings with social researchers from other Government departments, officers and staff from police forces and representatives from organisations such as Women’s Aid and NPCC. This means I am constantly learning from others, building new relationships and sharing best practice.

I first joined the College of Policing as a placement student through the GSRDAP, between my second and final years of my university course. At the end of my year-long placement I sat an assessment centre which meant I came back to the College of Policing as soon as I graduated. I have since been temporarily promoted to Senior Research Officer to lead the evaluation of video response to domestic abuse.

During my placement year at the College of Policing, I worked on Op Talla; the policing response to the COVID19 pandemic. My role included receiving, interpreting and presenting data about the impact of COVID19 on officer and staff sickness, and absence rates in every force in England and Wales. While it was often a stressful task to complete this in a couple of hours each day, it was really rewarding to know that this work was informing the Government about the impact of COVID-19 on police forces.

As Digital Innovation Manager I head up a small team responsible for the design and implementation of digitally innovative solutions to assist any area of policing in Humberside. It is my responsibility to ensure that Humberside Police is at the forefront of digital innovation nationally. We go out into the force to ascertain where problems exist and look to either develop a solution in-house (largely utilising the M365 stack) or liaise with third party suppliers to bring in a solution. We then implement the solution and track its use for maximum benefit capture.

I get a lot of enjoyment from watching the team develop, learning new skills, and getting involved in high profile projects. For example, our Solution Developer created a PowerApp to quickly identify areas of vulnerability within force, something that policing has been lacking for a number of years. Our Project Officer was one of 2023’s Top 30 Under 30 - an amazing achievement. I get to support great people doing a fantastic job, and it doesn't get much better than that.

I spent around 12 years in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Humberside Police - with roughly half of that time spent in supervisory roles. In September 2020 I was successful in applying for a secondment opportunity to deliver NEP/365 in force. That role led me to apply to be the force Digital Innovation Manager in 2021. I don't come from a tech background, but I understand the needs of a business and operational policing and, together with my team, can translate business need into digital solution.

I am most proud of Humberside delivering the Victim Journey, an automated victim contact solution. It was a fantastic project to be involved in and we recognised that there was a clear need to do better for victims of crime, provide more timely updates and be more proactive in our communication. We have seen some staggering results from the project, for example, a reduction of 49 per cent repeat contact into the FCR across two crime types.

To have been supported to lead that project is something that I will always be proud of. The success of Victim Journey has led us to be chosen to develop a national portal for policing so that members of the public can have easier two-way communication with their force. This is a really exciting opportunity for Humberside to lead the way nationally.

I am responsible for ensuring that: appropriate information management governance documentation is in place for high-risk processing; facilitating data breach processes and ensuring that investigations into data breaches are carried out; and that Information Asset Registers are updated, with Information Asset Owners being educated in relation to their responsibilities.

I enjoy the problem-solving methodology that I apply to enable me to understand and solve the data problems that are highlighted by Information Asset Owners, police officers and police staff.

I came into this role after I was asked to help out in May 2018, for two days per week, for a short period of time whilst the role went out to advert. The role was not filled and i applied the next time it went out for advert and got it.

My proudest achievement was after I was nominated for a spotlight interview for the Women in Data flagship event which took place on 7 March 2024! I was totally gobsmacked to be nominated!