Miss Abigail Salter

Abigail is a Lecturer in Policing Organisation and Practice with the Faculty of Business and Law and is currently working with a team to author teaching materials for the Police Constable Apprenticeship Degree. Abigail is also currently working towards publishing a research paper on 'Detective Sergeants experiences of complex demand, competing pressures and resilience' with Dr Zoe Walkington .  

Abigail has a wealth of UK and International policing experince. A former Police Officer of 19yrs service, Abigail has worked for the Metropolitan Police (2001 - 2012), Hertfordshire Constabulary (2015-2020) and also with New South Wales Police, Australia, where she worked overseas for Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, as 'Subject Coordinator' for Police as Investigators 3 subject which forms part of the Associate Degree in Policing Practice (2012-2015). In 2018, Abigail worked for the Open University Policing team on a 12 month secondment.

Abigail’s background with the Metropolitan Police (2001 - 2012) includes working in the Criminal Investigation Department, Major Incident Room, Intelligence Unit , Burglary Squad and the Serious Sexual Offences Investigations Team. Abigail has supervised a team within the Community Safety Unit (Domestic Violence, Honour Based Violence and Hate Crime) and has been a ‘Harm, Opportunity and Threat’ supervisor. As a Detective Sergeant, Abigail has also worked on a uniform response team where she has provided guidance and leadership to uniform officers dealing with the initial evidence gathering at scenes of priority crime, critical incidents and suspicious deaths. In 2009, Abigail received both a court and Borough Commanders Commendation for Detective ability.

During her time working for Hertfordshire Constabulary, Abigail specialised within the 'Safeguarding Command’, leading the Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults from Abuse team and the Sexual Offence Investigation Team. During her time with Hertfordshire, she received awards for Winner of the Team of the Year (Safeguarding Adults from Abuse), a nomination for the Police Federation National Detective Forum, Smarter Detective Award and a Certificate of Good Work for contributing to the success of a fast moving operation leading to the conviction of a stranger rapist.

Abigail also has a Masters in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management. Her research dissertation looked a 'risk compensation theory' and focused on an initiative around free 'personal beacon' hire that the Australian Police Search and Rescue teams used in the Blue Mountains National Park to reduce missing persons. Abigail continued some work within the arena of technology and policing / missing persons whilst in Hertfordshire Police. Abigail led on a project funded by the Police Innovation Fund which was evaluated by Dr Karen Shalev-Greene, Director of the Centre for the Study of Missing Persons at Portsmouth University. The project was to prove a concept on if GPS locator devices can reduce the risk to vulnerable persons living with dementia at risk from going missing.