Tell us about yourself

I am a PhD mature student researcher (University of Birmingham) focusing on mental health police contact deaths (PCDs). I’m also an associate lecturer in criminology (University of Worcester) following a 27-year career in the police where I was a policy specialist on responses to mental health incidents. I was the first national mental health coordinator for the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, supporting five Chief Constables for over ten years as a specialist advisor. I have acted as an expert witness for a number of PCD inquests in the UK and Australia and given evidence to national thematic inquiries such as the Adebowale and Angiolini Reviews as well as to the Home Affairs Select Committee who commended my work.

My research is, in part, auto-ethnographic and examines Preventing Future Deaths reports from HM Coroners in the policy context of England and Wales since 2000, examining the mechanics of why deaths occur and the notion of “lessons learned”.

Why did you want to become a Research Affiliate?

I have been aware of the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre since its inception and of its leading reputation. I have been involved in professional discussion with academics at the centre throughout my career and since leaving the police to start my own academic journey.

My research squarely fits one of the Centre’s main research areas of mental health and routine police work and I was grateful to be invited to become an affiliate member to improve my connections to individuals working in related contexts, to improve my knowledge of the Centre’s ongoing work and ensure my own work is up to date and relevant to others.

How does your research connect to the Centre’s mission and values?

My work aligns with all the Centre’s published values and principles: in attempting to bring light to a difficult, sensitive area of business which brings significant challenges to organisations. It is firstly work attempting to bring academic integrity to the topic of police contact deaths. That topic cannot be discussed with live awareness of the various biases in outcomes for diverse groups affected by policing, especially young Black men who have been at the centre of so many high-profile mental health police contact deaths.

My work attempts to understand the mechanics of what goes wrong and how that contributes to the adverse outcomes so often regretted. In that sense, it is solution-focused and attempts to open a dialogue that offers potential to responsibly reduce adverse incidents after police contact by driving a debate where we currently see very little, if only we can realise the notion of “lessons learned”.