Owen is a former Police Chief Superintendent in West Yorkshire Police and a graduate of the National Police Executive Programme at Cambridge University. He holds a Masters Degree (Distinction) from Cambridge University. 

Owen has co authored four journal articles and is a regular contributor to Policing Insight. He frequently contributes to media interview, podcast and newspaper articles in his specialist area - Crowd Policing, especially the policing of Protest and Football. Twitter - @PolicingCrowds

Over a thirty year career Owen held a number of strategic leadership posts, the last of which (before retirement) was as Head of Specialist Operations - a command of some 1,600 officers & staff providing counter terrorism specialist firearms, firearms and covert armed operations to the fourth largest force in the UK. Owen commanded other specialist services such as police dogs, mounted, Op Servator and Roads Policing amongst others. He is an experienced Public Order Commander, commanding some of the largest police mobilisations in the North of England for national protests and counter protests.

He has exercised the use of police firearms and deployment of water cannon with colleagues in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. 

He is a former co director of 'Enable' - a research partnership on football policing and has UK wide experience of football policing operations. Owen has studied football policing approaches in Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark as part of the Enable project and has presented at conferences in those countries and in the United States.