Dr Lynsey Pinchen

I have over 24 years’ combined experience in the fields of policing and higher education. I am a former Police Sergeant, having served for 16 years as a police officer in Bedfordshire Police and Durham Constabulary, and I am now the Associate Head of School for Crime, Policing and Investigation at the University of Sunderland.

Before leaving Durham Constabulary in 2015 to undertake my doctoral study, I had served in predominantly frontline roles, at the rank of sergeant, for 10 years. My roles involved managing police officers and emergency responses to policing incidents, criminal investigations, and the management of suspects, witnesses, and victims.

I am qualified to the rank of inspector and additionally, completed the ICIDP programme, associated with PIP Level 2 accreditation for the investigation of serious and complex crime. I also have experience in supporting, managing, and developing police officers and staff (and in my current role, students and academic staff). Having policing experience affords me credibility in the classroom, and beyond, in the field. I bring policing context and experience to curriculum design and delivery and view operational credibility as vital for engaging policing students and serving officers. 

I also have a proven track record of excellent teaching in higher education and have broad teaching experience in teaching design and delivery, across the policing disciplines and PEQF curriculum area. While at Teesside University (2017–2021), I played a role in the design and delivery of Cleveland Police’s PCDA programme. I designed and delivered content material for the College of Policing’s Direct Entry Inspector and Superintendent Programme and have held module and programme lead responsibilities for a range of policing modules at both the University of Sunderland as a Senior Lecturer, and Teesside University as a Lecturer, on undergraduate and postgraduate policing courses.

I have experience leading on evidence-based practice, and specifically have module lead, design, and delivery responsibilities for Evidence-Based Policing, Problem-Oriented Policing, and Problem-Solving, Research Methods for Policing, alongside Decision Making and Discretion, aligned to the PEQF curriculum. As a higher education practitioner, I have a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and I'm a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). 

As an undergraduate, I was awarded a first-class honours degree in Civil Engineering (BSc) from Nottingham Trent University in 1999, and as a postgraduate, I was awarded an MSc in Counter Corruption and Counter Fraud Studies from the University of Portsmouth in 2013. I also have a PhD from Northumbria University, awarded in 2022. My doctoral study explored the receptivity of frontline constables and sergeants to research and evidence-based policing (EBP) across four police forces in England.