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Exploring evidence-based policing
This course, Exploring evidence-based policing, examines the basic elements of evidence-based policing and gives insight into how more evidence-based approaches can inform better policing practice.
This course was produced by The Open University in association with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand more effective evidence-based approaches to decision making
- consider ways in which evidence-based policing can enhance policing practice
- understand ways that you can make more informed evaluations on the effectiveness of approaches to policing
- reflect on ways in which evidence-based practice in policing can affect communities both positively and negatively.
First Published: 23/03/2021
Updated: 23/03/2021
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The existence, if sadly not the timely maintenance of, the ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด's 'toolkit': https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit/problem-oriented-policing?InterventionID=47, does at least suggest greater focus on EDP at the centre of police best practice.
It was also interesting to note the Superintendent's comment with regard to the "๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐" intervention (which focuses on juvenile delinquents or children at risk of becoming delinquent) having "actually shown to ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ offending". [As confirmed by: https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit/scared-straight"] Only this morning (26/5/2025) ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ had featured a mobile prison cell that was being used to educate primary school children, with regard to the possible outcomes of any future criminality. This was being run by a former police officer; there was no indication of whether the required research had been undertaken.
The fact that a good overview of this subject yielded only a 3* was largely down to:
1) The audio for Dr Nicky Miller's interview was of a very low quality overall.
2) The automated transcription of both videos led to unfortunate results, e.g., Sahara in place of SARA.
3) Unlike all other OU courses, the transcriptions did not include the actual questions that the interviewees were responding to.
4) The MS Word document is merely a skeleton, unlike the PDF version. The headings contained in the former indicated that the final version was re-structured fairly significantly from that which had originally been planned.
5) Perhaps most importantly, the last paragraph of ๐ฑ.๐ฐ, stating that "Ultimately, while EBP may be beneficial for some policing problems it is ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฎ", should really have been included in the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
6) Various references need updating; especially the ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด's 'toolkit'.
...anyway, I hope that some of the above proves beneficial.