Sarah Baker

From a young age, Sarah Baker had always wanted to be a police officer. She achieved her dream in 2002 when she joined West Yorkshire Police as a beat officer and since then she has taken on various roles and progressed up through the ranks. 

And the former Keele student says, the University played a vital role in her career journey that has now taken her to the position of Assistant Chief Constable with Humberside Police, a position she has held since December 2024. 

Having graduated in 2001 with a degree in Psychology and Criminology, Sarah speaks fondly of her time at Keele, from working in the bar at Hawthorns Hall to having the opportunity to spend a semester studying in Canada as part of her degree. 

She said: “I looked at several different universities and having grown up in West Yorkshire, I knew I wanted to be on a campus that had a family feel to it, rather than being in a city. I’d always lived in a semi-rural setting so Keele’s campus in the countryside was perfect for me, and it felt like a very safe space. 

“Keele just offered so many different opportunities to learn and expand your horizon. I knew I wanted to study psychology, and I’d always had an interest in criminology, so the flexibility to study both of those through a dual honours degree was fantastic for me. And when I did a bit more digging and found out there was also the option to study abroad, that was a massive pull for me. I went to Ottawa and did a semester there, and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in terms of growing up and finding out who you are.  

“I had a fantastic social side to my life at Keele and had a good bunch of friends. On Sundays my family would come down and we’d all have a carvery together on the campus, and parents of other students would come down as well. I worked in the bar at Hawthorns Hall where I was living at the time and there was just a fantastic sense of community, I absolutely loved it. 

“My degree has given me such a solid foundation that’s enabled me to go into policing and understand the operational and strategic elements of the business. The analytical and research skills I gained, and the ability to dig into things, understand them and then provide the analysis and narrative to go with it, has been massively beneficial throughout my career.”

As Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) for Corporate Services at Humberside Police, Sarah oversees areas of business related to all aspects of Corporate Communications, Corporate Development, People Services and Learning and Development. 

An accredited Strategic Firearms Commander, a Gold Public Order Commander, and a Gold Multi Agency Incident Commander, she also has responsibility for Specialist Operations which includes Firearms, Firearms Licensing, Underwater Search and Regional Marine Section, Roads Policing, Dog handling, Central Ticket Office, Operations Planning and Taser. 

She has held various policing roles in her career, from road policing, neighbourhood policing, a Detective Inspector for violent crime and domestic incidents and a Chief Superintendent.  

In her current role as Assistant Chief Constable, Sarah was the Gold Commander responsible for leading the police’s response after a container ship and an oil tanker collided in the North Sea off east Yorkshire in March 2025, which became an international news story. 

Sarah said: “When you first join the police, you want to be out on the streets and helping people on the frontline, but there’s some of us that take a different route and specialise in certain skills, from becoming dog handlers or great detectives. While I’ve always been happy and comfortable doing the operational side of the job, there’s always been a strong passion inside me for governance, accountability, performance and structures, which has taken me to my role now, which effectively is strategic leadership of an operational business. 

“I’ve been fortunate to have a very good career so far where every day has been different, and I’ve been encouraged to push myself from a professional point of view. It’s a testing and challenging job but everything we do is about protecting the public and making them feel safe as best as we can. It’s a privilege to be in this position because you are there for people at the best and worst of times, and it’s the same for all our officers and staff.” 

And asked for her advice to Keele’s current crop of students who will soon be graduating, Sarah said: “My advice would be don’t rush or panic. If you don’t know what you want to do when you graduate, that’s ok. Find something that will get you where you need to be financially, so you’ve got some stability and are comfortable, and then you’ve got time and headspace to think about what comes next.”