Project Team
Dr Becky Phythian
Principal Investigator
Reader, Edge Hill University
Becky is a Reader in Policing and leads the iLeX project.
She completed her academics studies in psychology, before undertaking various lecturing and research-related roles in the field of policing.
Following her research examining the use of the Police National Database in agency information sharing, Becky obtained funding to explore law enforcement information sharing on an international scale (the iLeX Project).
Prof Stuart Kirby
Consultant
Emeritus Professor, UCLan | CrimeInsights Ltd.
Stuart is a chartered psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Policing.
He retired from Lancashire Constabulary as a Detective Chief Superintendent in command of specialist crime and operations, before moving to academia.
Stuart is a consultant to UK police forces and the NPCC, is a judge for the UK Problem Oriented Policing Awards, and has engaged with police forces across the world, including USA, India, Canada and Australia.
Dr Lauren Swan-Keig
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Edge Hill University
Lauren completed her academic studies in investigative and forensic psychology and was awarded her PhD in 2020.
Her PhD focused on improving the communication between the emergency services and members of the public.
Outputs of Lauren’s PhD research included practitioner reports sent to government and delivering training as part of Merseyside Fire and Rescue’s professional development programme.
Prof Andrew Millie
Mentor
Professor, Edge Hill University
Andrew is Professor of Criminology and Associate Head of the School of Law, Criminology and Policing, Edge Hill University.
He has extensive experience in policing research. He is also known for work that explores the overlaps between criminology, theology and philosophy.
Project Partners
Chief Constable Lisa Winward
Chief Constable, North Yorkshire Police | National Intelligence Portfolio
Lisa started her police career in North Yorkshire in 1993 as a Special Constable in York and joined Humberside Police as a regular officer in 1994.
Lisa successfully completed the FBI National Academy Leadership course in Quantico in 2011 and completed the Strategic Command Course in 2016. In 2018 she took up her current role as Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police.
Chief Constable Lisa Winward is the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for Intelligence and chair of the NPCC Local Policing Coordination Committee.
Prof Paul Taylor
Chief Scientific Advisor, National Police Chiefs’ Council
Paul is the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser for Policing. Based at the NPCC, Paul’s role is to deepen and expand police capability to harness science and technology across the full range of its business.
Prior to becoming CSA, Paul was director of the national hub for behavioural and social science for national security (CREST), whose 190 researchers from 48 HEIs and SMEs contributed significantly to training, investigative practices, and policy.
Paul is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Lancaster University and Professor of Human Interaction at the University of Twente.
Prof Eric Piza
Professor, Northeastern University
Eric L. Piza, Ph.D. is Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. His research focuses on the spatial analysis of crime patterns, evidence-based policing, and crime control technology.
Before entering academia, Dr. Piza served as the GIS Specialist of the Newark, New Jersey Police Department, responsible for the day-to-day crime analysis and program evaluation activities of the agency.
He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University.
Scott Keay
Programme Leader, Edge Hill University
Scott is the Programme Leader for the Professional Policing undergraduate degree, and recently passed his PhD viva researching how the police define, identify and respond to vulnerability.
He worked for Lancashire Constabulary for 20 years in various analytical positions including Criminal Intelligence Analyst, Senior Community Safety and Partnership Intelligence Analyst and Data Analysis and Insight Manager.
Scott’s work in developing crime analysis standards led to being the recipient of the 2018 IALEIA (International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts) Service Award for “outstanding contribution as a supervisor to the achievement of law enforcement objectives”.
Dr Laura Huey
Professor, Western University
Dr. Laura Huey is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, Editor of Police Practice & Research, a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), a member of the RSC’s Covid-19 Taskforce and Chair of its Working Group on Mental Health and Policing, as well as being a member of the Canadian Council of Academies’ expert panels on Cybercrime and Policing.
Recently, she founded an international working group on Police & Crime Data and co-runs #CrimComm, a global network promoting knowledge mobilization.
Formerly, she was the Director of the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing, and a Senior Research Fellow with the (U.S.) National Police Foundation.
Dr Keith Ditcham
Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
Keith is Senior Research Fellow in the Organised Crime and Policing research group at RUSI. He spent 32 years working for the Kent Police, SOCA and the NCA as an International Liaison Officer with experience across the Americas and Western Europe.
His research interests include SOC in the form of drug and human trafficking. The focus of his thesis is child criminal exploitation in the county lines drug distribution model.
Affiliate Partners
Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman
North Wales Police
Amanda is a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Crime and Criminology.
Amanda joined West Mercia Police in 1992 and throughout her career has held various posts. She started as Chief Constable for North Wales Police on Monday the 31st October 2022. She has overall responsibility for the direction and control of the Force.
She has national portfolio responsibilities for;
- Disability
- Police National Database
- Acquisitive Crime
Amanda’s national roles have highlighted the importance of information sharing across all levels of law enforcement from local, regional & national through to international levels. Any improvement in our ability to share information more effectively will enable us to be more efficient in safeguarding the most vulnerable in our communities and continue to improve our ability to identify our most dangerous offenders.
Chief Constable Steve Jupp
NPCC Lead for Serious & Organised Crime
Steve Jupp was appointed as the full time lead for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Serious & Organised Crime Portfolio in October 2022.
Steve joined the Metropolitan Police in 1987 where he spent the majority of his service tackling serious and organised crime and developing the Metropolitan Police’s current intelligence operating model. Between 1993 and 1999 Steve was seconded onto what is now the National Crime Agency, again focussing on serious and organised crime, working internationally, and spent two years working in Spain. In 1999 Steve returned to the Metropolitan Police until 2009. During that period, amongst other things, he developed the Metropolitan Police’s response to armed robbery and investigated the London Bombings. In 2009 he transferred to West Midlands Police where, as Head of Crime, he had responsibility for all levels of criminal investigations in the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton. In 2013 he went to Nottinghamshire Constabulary as an Assistant Chief Constable where he was responsible for crime investigation and reduction.
He joined Suffolk Constabulary in April 2015 in the role of Deputy Chief Constable, and was appointed Chief Constable from April 2019.
Steve has had national responsibility for working with the banking industry to prevent armed robberies and with the Ministry of Justice in the reform of the criminal justice programme, and was the Lead for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Intelligence Portfolio.
League Against Cruel Sports Intelligence Team
League Against Cruel Sports
The League has an intelligence unit set up to receive, assess, record and analyse intelligence in line with their campaigns. The team all have a solid background in UK policing and operate within the National Intelligence Model. Their Intelligence is recorded within a secure system known as CLUE which has recognition amongst UK law enforcement. They have a review and retention of intelligence policy in place that mirrors the guidance from the College of Policing. Their team uses the secure e-mail system Criminal Justice Email System (CJSM) to facilitate the sharing of intelligence. The League also actively seeks to share and exchange intelligence using signed Information Sharing Agreements (ISA’s).
The League also supports the National Police Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2022-2025 Strategic Objective (Intelligence) – Improve intelligence and information sharing among partners and enforcement agencies to maximise delivery under the 4P’s.
Risk and Intelligence Service
HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC’s Risk and Intelligence Service (RIS) aims to ensure that all HMRC enforcement and compliance activity is directed and supported by the best possible intelligence and risk information.
RIS does this by gathering and analysing information from a wide range of sources from within and outside the UK.
HMRC’s network of Fiscal Crime Liaison Officers (FCLO) further support investigations and information sharing by building effective relationships with the authorities in different countries.