Speakers

Owen is a recently retired UK Chief Police Officer with significant experience of police  leadership at the national level. He was awarded the Kings Police Medal in the 2024 New Year’s honours list.

He is now an Associate Chief Officer of the College of Policing, is the NPCC lead for the UK Covid Public Inquiry, and a Commissioner of the National Preparedness Commission.

His most recent policing role was at the National Police Chiefs Council, as National Mobilisation Co-ordinator, and strategic lead for NPoCC (National Police Coordination Centre). NPoCC is responsible for co-ordinating the deployment of police officers and staff across UK policing to support forces during large scale events, operations and in times of national crisis. He led national coordination for a range of high profile events which included the G7 & COP26 conferences, HRH Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and the Commonwealth Games.

With responsibility for coordination across all UK police forces, he was also the primary link between police forces and the UK Government, working closely with UK ministers. This included Scotland, Northern Ireland, Crown Dependencies and the British Oversea Territories.

Owen was also the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Civil Contingencies, and in this capacity, he was the UK police representative on the UK Resilience Forum. This work involved co-ordinating the police involvement with HM Government and a wide range of partner agencies, ensuring guidance and good practice is cascaded and embedded across the country.

The Civil Contingencies portfolio is broad and spans Local Resilience Forums, Search & Rescue, Major Incident Training & Planning, Severe Weather, Animal Diseases, Business Continuity and Nuclear Emergencies. He also led the national tactical police response to the Covid-19 pandemic on behalf of the NPCC from March 2020 until his retirement in September 2023.

Prior to his national leadership roles, Owen’s policing career was primarily with Hertfordshire Constabulary where he led a diverse range of portfolios.

He is an experienced strategic commander for Firearms, Public Order (protests and demonstrations as well as sporting events and music festivals), CBRN and Multi Agency Command. He also held command team roles for significant national events such as the 2012 Olympics.