Meet our team

Mark Cleland

As a qualified Astrophysicist Mark took his experience to the British Transport Police for a career in Policing. Throughout his career Mark has had a broad range of adventures including working with the Drug Enforcement Administration in the USA, riots in London, protecting royalty, flying in helicopters and bringing Piccadilly Circus to a standstill through no fault of his own, Mark has worked in areas such as response Policing, Operational Support, Neighbourhood Policing, CID and was the presenter of ITV Wales Crimestoppers for 3 years. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he became a candidate for the European Space Agency Astronaut programme and has the rejection letter to prove it. With 3 titanium plates holding his skull together following an assault during arrest, Mark knows full well the dangers of Policing and what as a leader his role is in keeping people safe. Mark is still a trained response driver and Taser carrier to show that even senior leaders are still operational Police Officers.

Mark has worked on a number of key areas including Acquisitive Crime, Mental Health, Criminal Justice Solutions, Violent Crime, innovation and marginal gains theory to improve police performance and confidence. Most recently Mark is the Sub Divisional Commander for BTP Western, is a Bronze, Silver and Gold commander and is involved in the planning and delivery of major events such as the G7 summit. Mark is the UK lead for Cycle Crime and the tactical lead for Metal and Catalytic Converter Crime.

Mark developed the idea of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership after realising that there was a gap in support for those organisations that keep the country running. He believes in talk is only as good as the positive action it delivers and has a propensity for quoting Star Wars to inspire those around him. Do or Do not. There is no try.

In 1977, Mark appeared on Multi Coloured Swap Shop where he swapped a 6’ tall Papier Mache tyrannosaurus Rex for a bag of stamps and sent them to the Blue Peter Stamp appeal. He’s still waiting for his Blue Peter Badge but it taught him to do the right thing and look out for those that need it. A view on life he shares with you through this work.

Richie Iwanoff

Richie leads the team responsible for all physical and acquisitive crimes for the BT Group; after upsetting his director he was also given the portfolio for all Retail crime and serious misconduct with the added benefit of no extra pay!

As a former Police Officer with a vast experience of serious and complex investigations and utiliasing a variety of tactics - these skills and experiences came with him when he made the decion to join BT in 2016. Having worked in a number of roles within BT leading a variety of investigations with various Police forces (in the UK and interationally) and industry partners it was clear that the best way to dsrupt and detect criminality (both organised and the chaotic!) was by tackling it in partnership.

After many cakes and sweets being consumed the discussions with Mark, Rob, Vicky, Rachael and many others moved to how can we, collectively and effectively, disrupt criminality and help keep the UK connected. With support from too many others to mention, the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership was born.

We welcome you to the partnership and between us we should be able to answer any questions you might have or have the contacts to help you keep your company or organisation safer from criminality.

Rachael Oakley

Having started her career as a Journalist, Rachael has always had a thirst for knowledge and coming from a ‘Police Family’ meant that crime and criminal behaviour was something she had a natural interest in. So when an opportunity came to combine both her drive to be first with the news and learn more about criminality, it felt like the perfect move. Rachael started her career in Intelligence Analysis with West Mercia Police where she developed a passion for predictive analysis and intelligence led policing. This passion continued when she joined SmartWater to set up their Intelligence Unit and was instrumental in setting up their first version of ‘The Intelligence Portal’.

From then on, Rachael has spent the last 10 years developing SmartWater’s Intelligence team, which has become the Centre for Infrastructure and Asset Protection (CIAP), providing law enforcement and industry with meaningful analytical services and products. As an experienced Intelligence Analyst herself with a demonstrated history of working in the Security and Crime Investigations industry, Rachael has been part of the team that developed the NICRP and is incredibly proud to lead the team of analysts and researchers in CIAP responsible for delivering the Intelligence service to the partnership.

Victoria Foskett

Having always had an inquisitive nature (a polite way of saying she is nosey!) and growing up next to a prison she was always going to be interested in crime and “catching the bad guys”. Having studied critical criminology and sociology at University she has worked in the criminal justice sector for 20 years including prisons, probation, youth justice and finally the police. She qualified as a major incident intelligence analyst in 2007 and worked for Northamptonshire police and EMSOU on a number of high profile level 2 operations.

After 7 years she moved on to work at the Security Industry Authority where she was intelligence manager until Virgin Media offered her an opportunity to see how the business side of things work. In 2011 she joined as security and risk analyst and focussed on the issue of theft of batteries and cable, moving onto to Security and Risk manager in 2016 where she developed the role and a strategy to tackle how metal crime impacts the business and how working together can effectively tackle metal crime and protect Virgin Media Assets.

Robin Edwards

Robin Edwards is acknowledged as an expert in his field having gained a wealth of experience on the subject of metal crime as the National Project Lead for Operation Tornado, Operational Lead for the National Metal Theft Taskforce and through the work his company has been involved in over the last seven years. He had a significant role in the development of the 2013 Scrap Metal Dealers Act and his depth of knowledge around the application of the legislation are frequently called upon both as an expert witness and in support of enforcement activity.

In 2014 he set up Onis Consulting and works as an independent consultant guiding Industry and Law Enforcement agencies through the challenges of developing effective preventative metal crime strategies. He currently works with British Transport Police as a subject matter expert and supports enforcement operations, delivers training across the UK and is part of the team that developed and delivered the NICRP. Robin sits on a number of working groups and his expertise and guidance is sought internationally.

Andy Wood

Andy Wood is the project lead for the NICRP on behalf of Safer Business Network.

Andy joined the Metropolitan Police in 1984 and after 5 years stationed on an inner London borough transferred to the Dog Support Unit. Following his promotion, Andy was again posted to a central London station where he led the borough Anti-Social Behaviour Unit until his retirement in 2014.

Since leaving the Met, Andy has retained his connection with policing and previously managed the Business Crime Reduction Partnership in the West End of London before taking up a business development opportunity in the security technology industry.