MEET YOUR
ANZSEBP COMMITTEE
Leading with evidence.
Connected across the region.
The ANZSEBP Committee Brings Together Experienced Police Practitioners, Researchers, And Professionals From Across Australia And New Zealand Who Are Committed To Advancing Evidence-Based Policing Through Leadership, Collaboration, And Shared Expertise.
Together, The Committee Supports The Society's Mission By Fostering Professional Connections, Encouraging Knowledge Exchange, And Helping Shape Initiatives That Strengthen Evidence-Informed Policing Across The Region
President
Dave Cowan
Detective Superintendent | Victoria Police
David Cowan is the President of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence Based Policing (ANZSEBP) which comprises of police from every police agency in Australia and New Zealand with over 4000 members. He is an advocate for prevention and for police leading innovative strategies on the ground to test what works, rather than solely relying on intuitive and reactive based responses to crime. He talks to the leadership attributes required to challenge the status quo and the obligation that we all have to advance innovation and knowledge of what works in policing. He has led field trials in police legitimacy, hot spot policing, focused deterrence and reducing failure to appear in court.
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David has served with the Victoria Police since 1990. He is currently Detective Superintendent of the Organised Crime Division, where he oversees the Major Drug Squad, Clandestine Laboratories Squad and the Joint Organised Crime Taskforce. David holds a Masters of Criminology from the University of Cambridge, has completed the Senior Leaders in Government Program at Harvard, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2020, he undertook a Churchill Fellowship investigating evidence-based policing worldwide.
He has received a number of awards for EBP including in 2019 Distinguished Police Scientist (ANZSEBP), 2024 US Evidence Based Policing Hall of Fame (Centre for Evidence Based Crime Policy), 2024 UK Sir Robert Peel Medal (University of Cambridge) and in 2024 was inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. In 2023 her received the Gold award for violence prevention from the Australian Institute of Criminology.
Vice-President
R.Mark Evans OBE
Chief Executive Officer (RMEinsights) and Honorary Professor, UCL
RMEinsights and University College London (UCL)
Mark, Founder and Chief Executive of RMEinsights, has combined an international public sector career with teaching responsibilities at University College London (UCL).
From 2003 - 2007, Mark worked for the NIO/RUC/PSNI in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was awarded a Royal Honour (OBE) for services to policing, and led on building a new crime and intelligence analysis service in response to recommendations of the 1999 blueprint for police reform (the 'Patten Report') commissioned as part of the Good Friday peace agreement.
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In 2008 Mark was appointed as the first Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for New Zealand Police. This was followed by 12 years as a Deputy Chief Executive (tier 2), where he owned a range of operational, leadership, policy and ministerial functions, and also played a leading role in enabling the major ‘Policing Excellence’ transformation programme (2012-2019). He was the NZ Police executive intelligence lead in response to the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attacks, and in 2022 his work in building a world-leading evidence-based capability in New Zealand was recognised with his induction into the International EBP Hall of Fame at George Mason University.
In addition to his role as Honorary Professor at UCL, Mark is Visting Professor at Canterbury Christchurch University, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM), a Senior Associate Fellow at the Police Foundation (UK), a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals (NZIIP) and an Ambassador for the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO).
Mark left NZ Police in December 2024 and since then has been providing advisory and consulting services to a range of government, policing, technology, professional services and public safety organisations in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, and South Asia.
Treasurer
Mark Langhorn
Superintendent | Victoria Police
Mark Langhorn is a Superintendent with Victoria Police and a committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing. With more than 32 years of policing experience, Mark has held a range of operational, strategic and leadership roles across metropolitan and regional Victoria, including command of complex frontline policing environments and organisation-wide reform initiatives.
A longstanding advocate for evidence-based policing, Mark previously led Victoria Police's Policing Research and Reviews Division, where he oversaw critical incident reviews, organisational learning initiatives, evaluations and strategic reviews that informed organisational reform and capability development. He has worked extensively to embed evidence, evaluation and lessons management into policing decision-making and operational practice.
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Mark is currently completing a PhD at the University of New England, with research focused on organisational learning and innovation in policing. His work examines how police organisations can become more effective learning organisations by integrating evidence, reflection and adaptation into everyday practice. His applied research has contributed to organisational learning initiatives within policing and broader public-sector organisations in Australia and internationally.
Mark holds a Master of Research and a Master of Public Policy and Administration, is a Winston Churchill Fellow, and serves on a number of governance and advisory boards. Through his involvement with ANZSEBP, he is committed to strengthening the connection between research, evidence and practice to improve policing outcomes and community safety.
Secretary
Dr. Michael Newman
Chief Inspector | Queensland Police Service
Dr Mike Newman is a Chief Inspector with the Queensland Police Service (QPS), where he has served for more than 34 years. He is currently Intelligence Operations Manager, State Intelligence Group. His career covers general duties, criminal investigation branches and specialist crime units, along with secondments to a Commission of Inquiry and the Australian Crime Commission. As a commissioned officer he has also managed the Investigations and Intelligence Training Unit, the QPS Leadership Centre and Cyber Crime Investigations.
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Mike's evidence-based policing (EBP) work began in 2013, when he was project manager of the Mobile Police Community Office trial. From 2016 to 2017 he was the first EBP Visiting Fellow at the University of Queensland (UQ), where he designed and brokered trials on reducing drug supply in hotel accommodation, detective training, sexual assault investigation and procedural justice. He joined the Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence Based Policing (ANZSEBP) in 2014 and is currently the Society's Secretary and Editor-in-Chief of its journal, Police Science. Mike is also the Director of Global Consortium Group Evidence-Based Practice, which provides independent evaluation and analyst training to police services, public safety agencies and other organisations, helping them put resources where the evidence shows they work.
Mike holds a PhD from UQ, where his research examined gendered advancement within a large policing organisation. He also holds a Master of Information Systems and a Bachelor of Information Technology from the University of Southern Queensland, both with distinction, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a Churchill Fellow and studied international policing responses to cybercrime. In 2018 the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy inducted him into its Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame. In 2021 he received the Outstanding Practitioner Award from the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing, and in 2025 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He has also received several Assistant Commissioner's Certificates for operational and corporate work. Mike is a former Committee Member of the Australasian Council of Women and Policing (ACWAP) and remains a member.
Director & Managing Editor of Police Science
Simon Williams, M.St (Cantab)
Assistant Director | Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)
Simon is the Assistant Commissioner, Operational Specialist Services with Corrective Services Western Australia. In this role he leads a diverse portfolio spanning the Corrective Services Academy, Intelligence Services, Security Management, Operations and Emergency Management, Special Operations, and the Drug Detection Unit.
Simon began his policing career with West Midlands Police in January 2002, serving across neighbourhood policing, roads policing, public order policing and offender management. During this time he completed a Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management through the University of Cambridge.
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After relocating to Western Australia in 2016, Simon played a leading role in advancing evidence-based policing within WA Police. He subsequently joined New Zealand Police where he helped establish and later led the national Evidence-Based Policing Centre, overseeing multidisciplinary teams responsible for research, evaluation, performance, data science, service design, partnerships and continuous improvement.
Simon later served as Assistant Director with the Australia and New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) whilst on secondment from New Zealand Police and whilst looking for his next challenge in the justice sector worked within KPMG's National Security and Justice practice.
Across more than two decades of public service in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Simon has led operational and strategic initiatives involving crime prevention, procedural justice, behavioural insights, police performance, organisational reform, data analytics and evidence-based practice. He remains actively involved in advancing evidence-based approaches across policing and justice agencies internationally.
Simon now serves as a strategic advisor for the Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) and was previously Editor-in-Chief of Police Science. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology in recognition of his contribution to applied experimental research and professional practice.
ANZSEBP Patron
Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret’d) is the inaugural patron for the Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing.
Sir Angus appreciates the importance of an evidence-based policing approach and supports the development of capabilities to improve evidence-based police practice.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret’d) was awarded the Knight of the Order of Australia in January 2015 for extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit in service to Australia, through distinguished service in the Australian Defence Force, continued commitment to serve the nation in leadership roles, particularly the national responses to the MH370 and MH17 disasters, and in a variety of roles in the community.
In August 2020 Sir Angus was appointed as Chair of the Murray Darling Basin Authority. Sir Angus is also a Senior Counselor for The Cohen Group, an international business advisory firm; Chancellor for the University of the Sunshine Coast; Chair of the Defence South Australia Advisory Board; Chair of the Victorian Police Corporate Advisory Group; Chair of the University of NSW Canberra Advisory Board; Chair of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Chair of the Supashock Advanced Suspension Advisory Committee.
He is a Board Member of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the Sunshine Coast Mind and Neuroscience Thompson Institute; the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, GreaterGood Canberra and the Victorian Police Executive Command. He is also a visiting fellow of the Australian National University National Security College.
In addition to his many board roles, he is the Ambassador/Patron of numerous charitable organisations including several mental health organisations.
In July 2014, Sir Angus was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to lead Australia’s efforts to help recover, identify and repatriate Australians killed in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster. Sir Angus also led the Joint Agency Coordination Centre coordinating the Australian Government’s support for the search into missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014.
In 2012 Sir Angus led the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers.
Sir Angus was Chair of the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board from July 2011 until March 2014. He was also Chair of Air Services Australia from 2012–2018.
In July 2011, Sir Angus retired as Chief of the Australian Defence Force after 41 years of service in the military.
In 2011, he was named the Australian Father of the Year and in 2012, the ACT Australian of the Year.
Sir Angus was awarded the Degree of Doctor of the University of South Australia in August 2017, Degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa from ANU in December 2016, Degree of Doctor of the University, honoris causa from UNSW in November 2015, and Degree of Doctor of the University from Griffith University in December 2013.
Sir Angus is married to Liz and they have three sons and three grandchildren.
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Connect with policing professionals, researchers, and partners across Australia and New Zealand, working together to strengthen evidence-informed practice.