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Psychology Graduate Success

Three Psychology graduates from the University have all utilised their degrees and have all gone onto successful police service analyst roles for the Hertfordshire Constabulary

Vicki Harley

After graduating in 2004, Vicki spent some time working for the police undertaking Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks which provided her with the opportunity to review and apply for internal roles. Following this, Vicki was successful in an application to join the specialist interview unit, which focuses on volume crime and persistent offenders.

Vicki then moved on to work with the County Prolific Offender Team, which looked specifically at linking offenders and crime series, particularly burglaries across a number of police forces.

Vicki then joined the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, where she has to investigate and support some of the biggest crimes in the region. As well as finding her role extremely rewarding, being able to see the impact that her work has had upon an investigation, Vicki continues to use the knowledge learnt during her degree in her working life: “As well as using the statistical and analytical skills that I was taught on a daily basis, this sort of work also uses more psychological expertise, particularly when trying to put together the profile of an offender.”

Natalie Conway

Natalie works as a Regional Intelligence Analyst which involves working on cross-border and organised crimes. It also includes supporting many other police forces and major incidents, such as the London riots where her work analysing social media to gain intelligence has recently won a nationwide award.

Natalie graduated with first class honours in 2005 and found herself unsure about where to head next. After spending some time working at the University, then as a business support role in the police, going travelling and returning to work in London, Natalie realised that she wanted to be involved in criminal investigations and work for the police.

Despite her previous role, it is notoriously difficult to get into the police force and so to get a foot in the door, she took a temporary role as a PA in the executive team at Police HQ. This allowed her to apply for an internal vacancy a year later to become a Crime Analyst. Having worked in this role for 3½ years, Natalie was recently seconded as an Olympics Analyst for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Following this, she was then promoted to her current role as a Regional Intelligence Analyst.

During her time working within the Crime Analyst department, Natalie has won an Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts Award (ACIA) and will be entered into the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA) Awards and Natalie will sit on the ACIA judging panel next year.

Ian Norris

Ian works as a Crime Analyst within the ‘Operation Manhunt’ team where their focus is around crime that targets the elderly, mainly distraction burglaries and rogue trading, although he has also worked on major events such as the London riots and the Olympics.

After graduating in Cognitive Science in 1994, Ian initially worked at Henkel, the German multi-national personal care company, as a Business Analyst, but it was his work as a Special Constable that made Ian decide to go for a shift in sector and join the police.

Having now worked for the police for a number of years, Ian still finds his role satisfying and interesting: “With this type of work there is a real-world impact – when you know that the role you played helped to catch a criminal then it gives you a real feeling of satisfaction, and that you’ve done something positive.”

Recently Ian was "Highly Commended" in the ACIA Awards for Excellence in Analysis 2011, for his innovative use of analytical techniques to enhance intelligence and investigative opportunities, which significantly contributed to a number of successful operations.

In the future, Ian hopes to build on this success and join one of the national agencies and work on organised crime or issues affecting national security.