Accessible Academics:
Dr Helen Wells
As well as being co-author of the volume you are reading now, I have been
researching roads policing and road safety issues for nearly 25 years. My
first foray into the area was as a result of working in Magistrates Court
during the National Safety Camera Programme, where I was regularly
called by speeding motorists who wanted to protest at what they saw as
the injustice of their situation. This led to a PhD (and then a book) on the
debate around the use of speed cameras, followed by research projects
on ANPR, police use of mobile data, Police and Crime Commissioners’
perspectives on roads policing, new operating models for policing the
roads and (most recently) the Mobile:Engaged project itself.
I have received funding to conduct research from local, national and
international funding streams, and from the private, public and third
sectors.
I also teach undergraduate and postgraduate criminology students
and pride myself on persuading as many people as possible that
speed cameras can be used as an example of almost anything on the
criminological menu!
Contact Helen:
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Email: h.m.wells@keele.ac.uk
Expertise:
• Speed Cameras
• Mobile Phone Use
• Roads Policing
• PCCs and Road Safety
• Criminology,
• Fairness in Policing
Helen says…
“When we planned this
project, we wanted to offer
as many people as possible
the chance to engage
with academic research –
without having to digest it
all themselves, and without
having to commission
and fund academics or
consultants to come and
digest it for them. The
Road Safety Trust grant has
meant that we’ve been able
to meet over 20 teams, learn
about over 70 innovations
and demonstrate the value
of drawing on the research
evidence
to
design
effective projects that are
able to demonstrate their
effectiveness”