Ellie served for more than thirty years as a police officer across the UK. For more than half of her career she worked in an environment where opportunities for women were limited, with little prospect for promotion, performing specialist roles or having an influential voice to bring about change. Landmarks in her career include being the first female officer to attain the ranks of superintendent, chief superintendent, and Area Commander. As Operational Commander for London Underground she worked on all major public and sporting events in London. As Director of Intelligence her responsibility spanned England, Scotland, and Wales. Between 2010 and 2014 Ellie served as Commander for Scotland, establishing credibility in tackling sectarianism and Head of Transport Security for the Commonwealth Games. For almost 10 years since retirement, Ellie has worked extensively across Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, advising on women, peace and security, security sector reform, policing and access to justice. Throughout a 3-year deployment into Somalia, much of her work was carried out in conflict, complex and humanitarian settings. Her deployment into Kenya’s refugee camps provided a milestone in her professional learning, developing the concept of Understanding the
Complexity of Problems. Ellie has supported the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association as Senior Technical Advisor on modern slavery and human trafficking and continues to support Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA), National Defense University, Washington DC on CVE, community policing and human trafficking. She is currently Senior Policing Advisor to the British Support Team, Ramallah, Palestine, where she is working with the Palestinian Security Services to enhance services to citizens across the West Bank. Having established a new chapter in her life, post-retirement, Ellie is embedded within a pastoralist community in northern Kenya. Founder of Amuka foundation, she is committed to develop leadership and resilience within communities. With a specific focus on harmful cultural and traditional norms, Ellie works with the community to address FGM, child marriage, exploitation and abuse. Ellie is committed to encouraging policing services to recognise the need to challenge norms, to invest time to develop different approaches to problem solving, defining realistic, effective and sustainable solutions to those issues affecting those most vulnerable in our communities.
