Karen was born in Cambridge and, with her family, has spent the majority of her life in the county. She had a successful and rewarding policing career, and during that time was selected by the College of Policing to lead the development of the Code of Ethics for Policing, which was published in 2014. She has worked with UK police forces, the Lebanese police, Hyderabad Police in India, and Barnardo’s Charity amongst others. Karen also led the national BME Progress 2018 programme to improve the representation in the service of underrepresented groups.
Karen retired from the police in 2014 as a chief officer after 30 years’ service in the county of Cambridgeshire. She holds the police long service and good conduct medal.
Currently Karen is a school governor and a non-executive member of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. She was a member of the Cambridgeshire and Essex Magistrates Advisory Committee and a member of the South-East Region Magistrates Conduct Advisory Committee. Karen is a company director involved in coaching, mentoring and leadership development. She has a particular interest in ethics and providing diversity and inclusion leadership programmes for both public and private sector companies and individuals. Karen is a qualified executive coach and qualified trainer.
Karen was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 2021.