Associate Head of School for Crime, Policing and Investigation
I have over 25 years of combined experience in the fields of policing and higher education. I am a former police officer having served for 16 years in Bedfordshire Police and Durham Constabulary. I am now the Associate Head of School for Crime, Policing and Investigation in the School of Social Sciences here at the University of Sunderland.
Before leaving policing in 2015 to undertake my doctoral study, I had predominantly served in uniform and detective frontline roles, serving as a sergeant for 10 years. My roles involved leading and managing police officers and staff, the response to policing incidents, criminal investigations, and the management of suspects, witnesses, and victims.
As an academic in HE within the field of policing, I have broad teaching experience in teaching design and delivery across the policing disciplines and the 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.
At Sunderland, I lead on Evidence-Based Policing, and specifically have module lead, design, and delivery responsibilities for Evidence-Based Policing, Problem-Oriented Policing and Problem-Solving and Research Methods for Policing, aligned to the PEQF curriculum. I have a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
As an undergraduate, I was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering (1st class) from Nottingham Trent University in 1999. 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.
Given my policing, teaching and research experience, I bring policing credibility, context and experience to HE policing curriculum design and delivery. I view operational experience as being vital in engaging policing students and serving officers in the classroom.
Teaching and supervision
I teach:
- BSc (Hons) Professional Policing
- BSc (Hons) Professional Policing with Integrated Foundation Year
- BSc (Hons) Policing Studies (Top-Up)
I am also module leader for:
- PLC104 – Criminal Justice
- PLC203 – Research Methods for Policing
- PLC303 – Evidence-Based Policing Project
- PLC310 – Evidence-Based Policing
Additionally, I supervise students at various levels, from undergraduate to PhD level, who are engaged in dissertation and research studies.
Research interests for potential research students
My research interests are focused on evidence-based practice within policing, frontline police practices, workplace research and police organisational and occupational cultures.
I am also interested in Q Methodology and mixed methodological approaches to research.
Research
My PhD thesis entitled ‘Getting the grease to the squeak: Understanding the operational and cultural contexts in which science and evidence can support police practice’ and explored frontline practitioners’ views towards the use of research and evidence in practice using a mixed methodological approach, including the use of Q Methodology.
Pinchen, L. (2022). Getting the grease to the squeak: Understanding the operational and cultural contexts in which science and evidence can support police practice. PhD thesis. University of Northumbria at Newcastle.
