David Raho

David Raho
Trustee & Probation Institute Fellow

David currently works as Policy Lead for HMPPS in the Strategic Delivery & Architecture Team (SDAT) within the Probation Workforce Programme (PWP). Before joining HMPPS in April 2022, David worked as a Policy Development Lead for Electronic Monitoring & Technology-Based interventions for MTC during the CRC/NPS era but has worked in probation in various roles since 1987 including as a probation officer in the community, prison, and court, and as a manager/trainer/practice assessor/ health and safety advisor. David is a subject matter expert in probation technologies including AI, probation learning and development, drug, and alcohol interventions, and also health and safety in criminal justice settings. He has worked in several roles involving training probation staff, developing, and delivering new electronic monitoring services, and being involved in a variety of technology-based intervention services including implementing alcohol monitoring, personal staff security devices, a service user app and prison cell-based technologies. David is a strong advocate of the appropriate governance and ethical use of technology, including AI, in probation to support professional practice.  

Throughout his probation career, David has been an activist and trade union leader for Napo (the trade union for probation and family court staff), particularly regarding its role as a professional association, and he has previously chaired Napo's professional and training committee. David has been active as an independent researcher, visiting lecturer, and more recently as an expert consultant regarding technologies in probation. He is a member of the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) Technologies in Probation Expert Group and has previously been an Electronic Monitoring and criminal justice technologies lead, and policy advisor, to both Napo and the Probation Institute. David currently represents the Probation Institute on the Ministry of Justice Electronic Monitoring Advisory Group (EMAG). He is also a long-term member of the Probation Journal editorial board and currently the Book Reviews Editor and a PhD candidate in the Law and Criminology Department of Sheffield Hallam University.