Experience

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley

• United States
• Public Policy Offices
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Head of Partnerships and Community Safety

  • Sep 2021 - Present

• Policy Development (Partnerships & Performance)

  • Mar 2018 - Aug 2021

  Thames Valley is the most complex non-metropolitan police area in the country. It contains 12 Local Policing Areas, 13 Local Authorities, 12 Community Safety Partnerships and 9 Youth Offending Teams. Each area differs in crime, demographic profile, political make-up, size and more. Partnership working in this landscape is critical, challenging and endlessly rewarding! Servant leadership and genuine collaboration creates the healthiest environment within which complex partnerships thrive and drive sustainable change.My role involves managing the deployment of £5m in PCC grants to Community Safety Partnerships and into key priorities such as Reducing Re-offending, Vulnerability and Exploitation, Problem Solving, Serious & Organised Crime and more.Strong relationships with every Community Safety Partnership - a bespoke approach to enable each partnership to develop local provision that is fit for purpose and sustainable. Ensuring the right level of support and challenge is achieved with integrity, transparency and excellent communication.The key national and regional priorities of tackling violence, exploitation, cybercrime and re-offending are delivered locally through:* Evidenced based targeting of the £3m Community Safety Fund, identifying how to best deploy it and monitoring its performance* Driving improvements in true problem solving analysis, logic model and theory of change* Leading on a whole systems thinking approach to partnership working in crime & disorder* Leading on a regional bid to deliver systemic change across the Prison Leaver system* Advising on the use of the Police & Property Act Fund, granted to not-for-profits delivering services that align with our priorities* Success in bidding for £822,000 from the Home Office Early Intervention Youth Fund and deploying that through fourteen different partners across every part of the Thames Valley to tackle serious youth violence and exploitation Show less



Buckinghamshire County Council

• Community Safety Manager (Crime & Disorder)

  • Sep 2010 - Feb 2018

  Ensuring that the activity we initiate or fund to reduce crime & disorder is done well through:* taking a customer journey / systems thinking approach to how we deal with anti-social behaviour* leading new research on the impact of accommodation on re-offending for some of our prolific offenders* driving a problem-solving approach within the Partnership, looking at exploitation of adults and children, cyber / digital crime and the impact of housing growth on crime and disorder* overseeing a total of over £300k funding from multiple sources which require a needs-based approached coupled with proportionate evaluation* leading on training and championing for officers and members on key crime & disorder principles, resident priorities and our problem-oriented approach to crime prevention* pushing the boundaries of services for victims of crime by broadening out our local reach from the requirement of Modern Slavery out to any form of exploitation, such as fraud or delayed reporting of sexual exploitation as a child.* leading, driving and maintaining the commitment to be evidence led and analysis driven, ensuring that we can confidently state what we actually know works and what does not and challenging the status quo along the way* ensuring an excellent relationship with the elected Police & Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley and his office* continuously driving changes and improvements into the information provided to other decision makers and funders so that old-style performance indicators are readily challenged and new outcome-linked indicators, often more narrative in nature, are brought inI was also committed to being an Employee Representative; a unique role which opened the doors of the most senior decision makers to requests, issues and concerns of their staff. It is a role that requires compassion, intelligence, negotiation and tact but most importantly, integrity. Show less

• Employee Representatives Co-ordinator - 2 days per week

  • Nov 2013 - Oct 2015

  Following 6 years of being an Employee Rep (voluntary role), I was seconded into a part time role to lead on how Employee Reps function and add value to the 2000+ employees. This role was a 2 year secondment and involved:* Ensuring staff are receiving messages that are timely and relevant to them* Representing staff by seeking questions and their answers from wherever the responses are best found* Regular meetings with Directors and Managing Directors* Quarterly meetings with the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council* Consultative meetings with key departments such as HR and Trade Unions* Relationship management of staff at all levels* Lead Wellbeing Champion* Face-to-face interviews and support meetings with staff and managers to ensure communication flow is successful and positive* Providing support to all of the (nearly 50) Employee Reps across the organisation* Providing advice, suggestions and support to various key departments with regard to large change projects, staff consultations, corporate communication initiatives, and moreSuccess in the role required integrity, willingness to "get your hands dirty", a passion for excellence, employee engagement, willingness to challenge and seek the truth and personal resilience. Show less

• Strategic Analysis Manager (Crime & Disorder) 3 days per week

  • Nov 2013 - Oct 2015

  Lead on the work to ensure that the local authority and its statutory partners under the Crime & Disorder Act are evidence led and have robust measures in place, always striving to identify and define "what good looks like".* Scrutiny of performance measures in key priority areas of Domestic Violence, Anti-social Behaviour, Reducing Re-offending, Volume Crime and others* Leading on partnership analysis across Community Safety, taking a strategic approach to problem solving and evaluation * Providing consultative support to funding recipients to improve their financial resilience in an increasingly uncertain landscape* Working with national experts in Criminology, Crime Science and Analysis to ensure that Bucks continues to be excellent in its application of crime analysis techniques Show less

• Senior Community Safety Co-ordinator (Crime & Disorder)

  • Jan 2007 - Aug 2010

  • Responsible for managing the development and successful launch of I:on Bucks, the web based partnership information sharing & analysis hub.• Introduction and development of new partnership analyst capacity, shared across the partnership providing significant efficiencies and improving outcomes.• Responsibility for partnership implementation and monitoring of the newly introduced Home Office Hallmarks for Effective Community Safety Partnerships.• Development of analysis and the SARA process through local partnership joint tasking processes, ensuring minimal duplication and maximising effecitveness (through a challenge and change approach).• Responsibility for the Home Office Area Based Grant, £.5 million partnership funding. Development of an evidence led bid and challenge process and improved budget management and accountability.• Production of policies & strategies including the Commissioning Strategy, Information Sharing Protocol, Communication Strategy, Performance Management Strategy, Evidence Led Business Processes & Partnership Business Plans.• Lead on Business Crime for the partnership, speaking at regional and national events. Show less

• Community Safety Officer (Crime & Disorder)

  • Nov 2005 - Dec 2006

  Project manager for the partnership's first web based information sharing hub, a project initiated and lead solely through experience and identification of the key requirements, risks and issues.Provision of full project management and procurement support, using Prince2 methodology, reporting directly to Chief Exec Partnership Board.Specific responsibility for community development and engagement including tackling fear of crime and building community confidence.Lead officer for Partnership Development activities across many themes including performance management, information sharing & research, evidence based processes, accountability and challenging outcomes (from outputs), etc. Show less

• Data & Research Officer (Crime & Disorder)

  • Jun 2004 - Oct 2005

  Responsibility for collation & manipulation of crime & disorder partnership data for the purposes of monitoring cross agency performance indicators.Development of robust processes around data to ensure outputs were fit for purpose at all levels of the organisation and partnership.Provision of research outputs including GIS maps and reports to support tasking functions.Responsibility for the improvement of data quality and practises to ensure adherence to legislation and best practise. Show less



Mind

• United Kingdom
• Mental Health Care
• 700 & Above Employee

• Volunteer (maternity leave)

  • Feb 2004 - May 2004

  Variety of support tasks for an organisation with a very worthy cause. Helping to ensure the information supplied to clients was up to date, invoices and other documentation, training supplies, updating research on the issues and supporting front line staff in their dealings with very sensitive subject areas. Variety of support tasks for an organisation with a very worthy cause. Helping to ensure the information supplied to clients was up to date, invoices and other documentation, training supplies, updating research on the issues and supporting front line staff in their dealings with very sensitive subject areas.



Computacenter

• United Kingdom
• Information Technology & Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Launch Controller

  • Jan 2001 - Jan 2004

  Ensuring that products and services were identified, reviewed, negotiated, priced and then launched on to customer portfolios on a monthly cycle. This provided assurances to our customers (government customers and large organisations such as BT) that the products they were getting were up to date, benchmarked, checked and ready for them to use. Success was dependent on good negotiation skills, building trusting relationships, excellent project management skills to keep everything on cost and on time, and the drive to keep things moving and deal with barriers. Show less



Computacenter

• United Kingdom
• Information Technology & Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Buyer

  • Nov 1998 - Nov 2000

  Fast paced role where one had to ensure that the products were purchased at the best possible prices, using negotiating skills to bulk buy, flip stock, use purchasing incentives and obtain combination orders from multiple customers. Success meant dealing with copious amounts of data, costs, invoices, knowing your products inside out and developing an impeccable relationship with logistics and the warehouse. Fast paced role where one had to ensure that the products were purchased at the best possible prices, using negotiating skills to bulk buy, flip stock, use purchasing incentives and obtain combination orders from multiple customers. Success meant dealing with copious amounts of data, costs, invoices, knowing your products inside out and developing an impeccable relationship with logistics and the warehouse.