Meet the team

Keith Potter, Editor
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Keith commissions, edits and writes articles for Policing Insight. He has a 30-year editorial career working as a journalist, sub-editor and editor for a range of print and online platforms. Having worked as a reporter and editor in local newspapers, he has freelanced for the past 20 years, with a particular focus on policing and home affairs. Previous publications and organisations he has worked with in this sector include Police Review, Police Professional, the Police Foundation and the Police Federation; he has also worked for Victim Support, several Higher Education organisations and a number of professional services companies. He has been a contributing writer on Policing Insight since 2017 and took on the role of Editor in August 2020.

Sarah Gibbons, Contributing Editor
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Sarah has spent much of her journalistic career focusing on police issues. She covered major crime stories and subsequent trials during her time as a reporter with a national news agency before specialising in policing at Police Review magazine and was one of a small team that launched an international version of the title. Sarah was then head-hunted by the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales to be their first Communication Manager. This role included liaising with national and international media, editing a magazine, developing and managing the organisation’s first (and subsequent) website and introducing the Association to social media. For the past nine years, Sarah has worked freelance, writing for a variety of publications, most recently joining the team of Policing Insight writers in 2020 where she has conducted interviews with influential leaders, covered ground-breaking research and summarised a series of wide-ranging reports to provide a useful insight for our audience on key policing topics.

Dr. Carina O’Reilly, Academic Editor
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Carina O’Reilly is Policing Insight’s editor with a particular focus on research and academia. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Lincoln. Her research interests include neighbourhood policing, confidence and legitimacy. Prior to joining Lincoln, Carina worked at IHS Jane’s for seven years as a writer, editor and senior analyst on European security and organised crime; and subsequently led and taught a range of Policing degrees at Anglia Ruskin University. Carina has a Masters degree from Cambridge University in Social and Political Sciences and holds a Masters in Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She is also a Labour councillor in Cambridge, and a former Deputy Leader of Cambridge City Council.

Ian Barrett, CoPaCC Director of Publishing and Development
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Ian is responsible for CoPaCC’s publishing strategy including platform, content and commercial development. An experienced publisher and commercial manager, Ian has spent the past 24 years publishing magazines and websites in the police and security sectors including Jane’s Police Review and Police Oracle before co-founding and developing Policing Insight for CoPaCC. Ian continues to develop CoPaCC’s publishing strategy to engage our community of police and criminal justice professionals via Policing Insight and CoPaCC events.

Bernard Rix. CoPaCC Chief Executive
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Prior to setting up CoPaCC, Bernard worked as an independent police, criminal justice and community safety advisor since 1990, across the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. He led over fifty significant change assignments in this time, work that has – amongst other benefits – improved police investigation of burglary, cut court delays, given victims a better service, helped community relations, and enhanced police officer safety