Det. Karen O’Connor

Instructor

Karen O’Connor has been a working in the field of criminal investigations for over 25 years.   She began as a Public Defender Investigator for the State Of Connecticut, Judicial Branch in 1990 and became a police officer in 1994.  She is currently assigned as a polygraph examiner and continues to teach in the areas of Criminal Investigations, Interview and Interrogation and Domestic Violence for her agency.  Karen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from Central Connecticut State University.  She also attained a Master’s Degree in Forensic Science Advanced Investigation from the University of New Haven.

Karen spent several years working as a Detective before being assigned to her agency’s Public Information Office.  In 2008, Karen was selected to become an Instructor for her agency and was tasked with training over 1000 officers annually in the areas of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Eyewitness ID and Missing Persons.  Also in 2008, Karen was assigned as a Legislative Liaison, representing her agency at the State Capitol during legislative sessions.   She graduated from the National Polygraph Academy in Columbus, Ohio in 2014. 

Karen currently sits on the Legislative Family Violence Model Policy Governing Council, which sets the minimum standard for policies directly related to law enforcement response to incidents of family violence.  In the past, she has also served on the CCDAV Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, the 2015 Legislative Task Force Studying Family Violence and its impact on Children and the CCADV Law Enforcement Advisory Board.