Dr Sean Bell joins the POP team

Dr Sean Bell joins us as a Lecturer within the Policing Organisation & Practice team. Sean has joined us from the Liverpool Centre for Advanced Policing Studies (LCAPs) at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). In 2015 Sean was awarded a Graduate Teaching Assistant Bursary to undertake his PhD studies. From this he moved on to a full time Lecturer role as Module Leader on The Professional Policing Degree and Policing Studies Degree. He also supervised students research at undergraduate and post graduate levels. Sean is particularly proud of his work coaching students seeking employment in policing and allied services.  

Prior to joining academia full-time, Sean was a police officer serving in Merseyside Police for 31 years, the last eleven at the rank of Inspector. He has broad policing experience serving in response, neighborhood, public order, community engagement, custody and strategic development roles. For the last three years of his service, Sean was seconded full time to Merseyside Police Federation in the role of Deputy Secretary where he was an advocate for officers in dispute with the Force, long term sick and those seeking medical retirement and injury awards.

Sean’s experiences as part-time and full-time Federation Representative influenced his move into academia. His Masters and PhD researched attitudes towards mental health within policing. His research measured the attitudes of police officers and police staff to mental ill-health benchmarked against public attitudes and explored the lived experiences of police officers and staff with mental health issues working within forces in England and Wales.