Michael Brown OBE

Associate Lecturer in Criminology

Department of Community, Social Justice and Health

Contact Details

email: michael.brown2@worc.ac.uk

Michael has been a visiting and guest lecturer at a number of universities for fifteen years on topics relating to criminology and forensic mental health, alongside a career as an 24/7 operational police officer. His particular teaching and research interests are the nexus of policing, mental health and criminal justice but he is also interested in research methods, the application of research evidence to professional practice and legal issues affecting the emergency services. He has lectured to paramedics, mental health nurses and Approved Mental Health Professionals (a statutory role for professionals under the Mental Health Act 1983) for years.

His time in policing was mostly spent as a 24/7 critical incident, public order and firearms commander at the rank of inspector – he was responsible for overseeing responses to the most serious of incidents, including homicides, suicides, deaths after police contact and hundreds of firearms incidents as well as serious public disorder. Michael was a ground-breaking specialist in policing and mental health whose work resulted in tens of thousands of people detained by the police in crisis avoiding jail for simply being ill. He has given evidence at numerous national inquiries, investigations and inquests into mental health related policing and was the national coordinator on policing and mental health at the College of Policing for five years, advising Chief Constables and Government.

In 2016, Michael was awarded an OBE for his services to policing and mental health and is the only police officer to have been awarded the President’s Medal by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2015) for a “significant contribution to the lives of people with mental illness”. He continues to write about these topics on his “MentalHealthCop” blog.

Michaels' academic research is now drawing upon decades of real-world experience and expertise by examining Preventing Future Death reports issued by His Majesty’s Coroners. This seeks to understand their relevance to the notion of “lessons learned” and he's very proud to be putting all this experience to good use teaching the next generation of professionals at UoW, in the beautiful county where he lived most of his life and where he loves to cycle whenever he has the time.