Meet the team
Senior Leadership Team
Our Teams
Lara Lewis – Staff Officer to the PCC
Lara is the Staff Officer supporting the PCC.
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Gemma McCormack – Office Manager
Gemma is the OPCC Office Manager and Executive Personal Assistant to the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Leanne Friel – Communications Officer
Leanne is the liaison between the organisation, the public, and the media to ensure that the activities of the Police and Crime Commissioner are relayed appropriately and on time.
Samantha Denness – Complaints Manager
Samantha is responsible for the resolution of dissatisfaction enquiries from the public. Supervising the assessment and resolution of dissatisfaction enquiries, formally recording and allocating these to the complaint resolution handlers.
Also provide briefings to the PCC and their senior team regarding all complaint related matters and attends strategic meetings and prepares briefings and reports on performance outliers, exceptions and emerging issues as well as supporting the identification of areas for improvement on key aspects of service delivery.
Bethany Coles – Compliance Officer
Bethany assists the Head of Governance and Compliance with all compliance and governance duties. This includes Freedom of Information Requests, Subject Access Requests and managing the Independent Custody Visiting Scheme.
Tarushi De Cruze – Compliance Officer
Tarushi assists the Head of Governance and Compliance with all compliance and governance duties. This includes the administration function of the Police and Crime Panel, Freedom of Information Requests, Subject Access Requests and managing the Community Scrutiny Panels (Stop and Search and Use of Force).
Amy Cartwright - Complaints Resolution Handler
Amy works within the Complaints Resolution Team, managing police complaints from start to finish and providing local resolution. She provides clear guidance and support to anyone wishing to make a complaint, ensuring individuals remain informed and supported at every stage of the process.
Caitlyn Morton - Complaints Resolution Handler
Caitlyn works within the Complaints Resolution Team, managing police complaints from start to finish and providing local resolution. She provides clear guidance and support to anyone wishing to make a complaint, ensuring individuals remain informed and supported at every stage of the process.
Manisha Kaylan - Complaints Resolution Handler
Manisha works within the Complaints Resolution Team, managing police complaints from start to finish and providing local resolution. She provides clear guidance and support to anyone wishing to make a complaint, ensuring individuals remain informed and supported at every stage of the process.
Claire Dawson – Policy Officer
Claire supports the Police and Crime Commissioner by assessing key areas of work and ensuring progress against the Police and Crime Plan. They play a vital role in holding the police force to account and driving delivery of agreed priorities.
Kathryn Harris – Policy Officer
Kathryn supports the Police and Crime Commissioner by assessing key areas of work and ensuring progress against the Police and Crime Plan. They play a vital role in holding the police force to account and driving delivery of agreed priorities.
Tara Malciw – Commissioning Lead
Tara is the Commissioning Lead and is responsible for supporting the annual commissioning process and ensuring compliance with policy and process throughout the year. Tara works with commissioned individuals/organisations to ensure delivery of objectives.
Jennifer Grant – Commissioning Compliance Officer
Jennifer is the Commissioning Compliance Officer and is responsible for supporting the annual commissioning process and ensuring compliance with policy and process throughout the year. Jennifer works with commissioned individuals/organisations to ensure delivery of objectives.
Amy Pickering– Commissioning Compliance Officer
Amy is the Commissioning Compliance Officer and is responsible for supporting the annual commissioning process and ensuring compliance with policy and process throughout the year. Amy works with commissioned individuals/organisations to ensure delivery of objectives.
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Francoise Julian – Mission Manager for Criminal Justice and Victims
Francoise is the Project Manager for Criminal Justice and Victims within the OPCC. Francoise is also the Business Manager for the Bedfordshire Criminal Justice Board and the OPCC lead for the Board’s three workstreams; Reducing Reoffending, Victims and Witness Engagement.
Nicola Bayliss – Restorative Justice Coordinator
Nicola is the Restorative Justice Coordinator for the OPCC and is responsible for working with criminal justice, local authority and voluntary sector partners to develop and embed restorative justice practice across the county, maintaining a scalable and sustainable service that is victim-centred and accessible to local communities.
Sue Brown – Restorative Justice Practitioner
Sue is the Restorative Justice Practitioner for the OPCC and is responsible for working with criminal justice, local authority and voluntary sector partners to develop and embed restorative justice practice across the county, maintaining a scalable and sustainable service that is victim-centred and accessible to local communities.
Cara Gavin – Violence Exploitation Prevention Partnership Head of Service
Cara is the head of service for the Bedfordshire Violence Exploitation Prevention Partnership and lead for Early Intervention portfolio within the OPCC.
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Louisa Glynn – Violence Exploitation Prevention Partnership
Lou Glynn- Is the Programme manager for the violence exploitation prevention partnership (VEPP) and is responsible for the development of funded interventions, the management of funded projects and programmes and engaging across the partnership to bring alignment under the serious violence duty.
Lou supports Cara the head of the VEPP in bringing early intervention and prevention to the forefront of service delivery across statutory and non-statutory partners.
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Kiran Nandha - VEPP Commissioning & Project Support Officer
Kiran is the Commissioning Compliance Officer and is responsible for supporting the annual commissioning process and ensuring compliance with policy and process throughout the year. Kiran works with commissioned individuals/organisations to ensure delivery of objectives.
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Gemma Hoddle - Young Person and Community Engagement Officer
Gemma plays an important role in delivery of the VEPP’s Response Strategy with a particular focus on engaging young people and communities in the prevention priorities. Alongside overseeing the successful delivery of relevant VEPP prevention projects, programmes and events, the post holder works collaboratively with all relevant partners to strengthen wider prevention and early intervention pathways.
An integral part of the role is to ensure the voice of children, young people and the wider community influences all elements of the VEPP’s work.
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Matthew Woodley Wilson - Evaluation and Data Insight Manager
Matthew has worked with data across various organisations since 2017, building extensive experience in analysis, evaluation, and insight development.
As part of the VEPP framework, he processes, reviews, and interprets multiple data streams across the partnership. His work informs strategic decision-making and provides guidance on Serious Violence and Exploitation, including its many forms and complexities.
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Marise Thomas - Serious Violence Duty (SVD) Co-ordinator
Marise provides direction for partners across Bedfordshire to meet the requirements of the Serious Violence Duty (SVD). Guided by the Bedfordshire Violence and Exploitation Strategy 2025 – 2027; she leads on the Violence and Exploitation Prevention Partnership Oversight Group (VEPPOG) bringing together all partners involved with the Violence and Exploitation Prevention Partnership (VEPP) to review progress against delivery of the four identified priorities of the strategy. Marise further ensures robust governance across the three Home Office funding streams which consist of the SVD, the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), and the Young Futures Prevention Partnership (YFPP).
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Izzy Swaney – VEPP Communications Officer
Izzy is the Communications Officer supporting Bedfordshire’s VEPP and Luton Borough Council’s Community Safety Partnership. She leads on integrated communications planning, stakeholder engagement, and public messaging, ensuring alignment with the Luton Community Safety Partnership Plan and VEPP’s mission. Izzy also oversees digital channels, including the VERU website and social media, and produces quarterly impact reports to highlight the outcomes of interventions. Her work is central to fostering collaboration, transparency, and confidence among Bedfordshire’s communities.
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John Haggerwood - Home Crime Reduction Advisor
My name is John Haggerwood, and I have proudly served Bedfordshire Police for the past 16 years.
I am a fully qualified Crime Prevention Advisor, as well as a trained carpenter and locksmith.
Throughout my time in this role, I have attended over 10,000 incidents, supporting residents with security solutions and providing crime prevention equipment. In addition to my operational work, I’ve helped raise between £30,000 and £40,000 for charity, contributing to meaningful community impact.
I maintain strong professional relationships with a wide range of partner agencies, ensuring the continued support of those who are vulnerable. I also assist with supporting Bedford Hospital by supplying and fitting key safes for patients. This enables safe home care and helps reduce bed blocking.
Even after 16 years, I remain as passionate and enthusiastic about my role as I was on my very first day.
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Emma Muggridge - Home Crime Reduction Advisor
I have worked with Bedfordshire Police for over 16 years, starting my career as a Community Support Officer in and around Bedford Town Centre before moving into the Bobby Scheme as a Crime Prevention Officer located in the Luton area.
For the past five years, I have specialised in supporting vulnerable people, the elderly, and victims of domestic abuse by securing their properties, offering tailored crime prevention advice, and providing reassurance. My role is focused on protecting people from offenders, minimising risk, and helping them feel safer in their homes. Alongside this, I regularly attend community meetings and events, delivering talks to raise awareness and strengthen local crime prevention efforts.
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