Karen retired from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the end of 2020, having served as a police officer for over 30 years. During her service, she worked in a number of specialised roles, the last of which was as a Designing Out Crime Officer (DOCO) in North East London.

In 2019 Karen became the first DOCO to achieve the Level 5 Diploma in Crime Prevention - Designing Out Crime qualification.  Following her retirement from the MPS, she joined the Academy as an Assessor, moving on to be an Internal Quality Assurance Verifier (IQAV) before becoming the Lead IQAV for the Academy in 2022. 

Karen is also the Academy’s Qualification Support Advisor, acting as the single point of contact to assist candidates who require additional support or have welfare requirements.  Her qualifications that underpin this role include a BSc in Psychology, a Certificate in Education and most recently a Level 3 Dyslexia Awareness qualification via the British Dyslexia Association (BDA).