Alison joined Hampshire Constabulary at the end of 2000, and subsequently joined the Metropolitan Police Service in June 2020 as a chief officer.

Alison has a varied career which includes working as a detective in the Criminal Investigations Department and in uniform roles, including Public Protection lead, child abuse investigator, geographic city and rural commander and emergency response commander. Alison has managed impactive community issues, (Portsmouth terrorism and Southampton Hate Crime being just two examples) and driven the force wide strategic response to improving victim care, hate crime and harmful practices. Alison practiced as a trained Negotiator for eight years. Her interest in the response to and impact of Domestic Abuse has been realised in her academic research where she has published papers including those on Domestic Abuse and applying the pillars of procedural justice to community engagement.

Alison’s policing roles have been enhanced by secondments to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue and as visiting professor at John Jay Exchange College of Criminal Justice, New York. She has also carried out work in San Paulo, Brazil supporting victims of people trafficking.

Alison’s interest in workforce development is reflected in her sponsorship for leadership initiatives particularly in support for the College of Policing. Alison mentors extensively and is heavily involved in driving the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda, progressing discussion to address the need for greater equity in the criminal justice system. Her passions centre on utilising the tenets of procedural justice to create legitimacy in policing, building community trust and confidence.

Her role as Frontline Policing Commander came with additional pan London responsibility for a number of portfolios including neighbourhood policing across London where she initiated innovative community engagement practice, extending beyond neighbourhood policing. In this role, as SRO for the Strongest Ever Neighbourhood Policing programme, Alison was instrumental in laying the foundation for an uplift of 1,600 PCSOs and 473 police officers into neighbourhood policing, necessitating a different approach to the Operating Model, training, tasking, performance framework and introduction of Clear Hold Build.

Alison is the NPCC Chief Officer lead for Out of Court Resolutions. Her appointment as Director for the Police Race Action Plan in 2023 sees her driving a national programme of work necessary to respond to critically low levels of trust and confidence in Black communities.

Her academic achievements include a Post Graduate Certificate of Education, 1st Class Honors BSc in Social Policy, MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice and is a Chartered Management Institute Fellow at level 7 in both Strategic Leadership & Management and Coaching & Mentoring. Alison graduated with a PhD from Portsmouth University.