Jane Townsley

Jane is a Chief Inspector with the British Transport Police in the UK and has been a police officer for 24 years. She has been a long time member of the British Association for Women in Policing (BAWP) and is President of the IAWP. Throughout her police career she has been involved in issues that particularly effect women within the service, representing the female perspective on various committees both within her own Force and nationally, on behalf of the BAWP. In 2003 she initiated setting up a female network within the British Transport Police specifically to progress the Gender Agenda in the Force. As a member of the BAWP committee she is one of a group of committee members who have responsibility for each of the aims within Gender Agenda 2.

Jane joined the IAWP in 1996, attending her first annual training conference in Birmingham, England the same year. She has only missed one conference, in 1999, and in 2000 became a member of the Board of Directors as the Region 13 (Europe) Coordinator. She remained in that position for two terms during which time she was the conference coordinator for the 43rd Annual Training conference in 2005 in Leeds, England. In 2006 Jane became 1st Vice President. She took over as Acting President in April of 2009 and formally took over as President in September 2009.

As a member of the Board of Directors Jane has worked on the Strategic Planning Committee which guided the creation of a strategic plan, first published in 2006. She also project managed a fundamental review of the IAWP magazine resulting in the current WomenPolice which was launched in September 2009.

Jane has represented the IAWP at a number of events and initiatives across the globe. In 2005 she attended the launching ceremony of the first female police officer network in Zugdidi, Georgia, as guest of UNMIG, United Nation Mission in Georgia. In 2008 she attended the launch ceremony of the Bangladesh Police Women’s Network in Dhaka. In 2009, as a guest of OSCE, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, she attended an initial meeting in Belgrade to support the setting up of a police women’s network in the Balkan region by SEPCA (South Eastern Europe Police Chiefs Association) and in 2010 attended the launch of this regional network. 



11th June 2011