Simon is a Professor at the University of West London, England. He currently works in the Research Centre for Cybercrime and Security and specialises in urban street gangs, dangerous dogs, acid attacks, hate crime, and youth crime.

He has a wide range of practitioner and professional experience in crime reduction and community safety including working for the Home Office as Regional Crime Advisor (London). He has an extensive history in urban regeneration and criminology having worked on over 2,000 social housing estates in the UK. He has written and produced numerous community safety audits, strategies and reports and in 1999 was co-inventor of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs).