PWC_6 Exploring evidence-based policing About this free course This content was originally published as an open educational resource on the OpenLearn website http://www.open.edu/openlearn/. This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/leadership-management/exploring-evidence-based-policing/content-section-0? There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whateverthat it is not utterly absurd. (Bertrand Russell) In recent years policing has seen a shift away from taken-for-granted ways of doing things. As part of this shift, the utilisation of a more consistent evidence base to support decisions, techniques and interventions has become more prevalent. This course examines the basic elements of evidence-based policing and gives insight into how more evidence-based approaches can inform better policing practice. After completing this course, you will be able to: understand more effective evidence-based approaches to decision making considered 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. Over time, both organisations and people develop typical ways of doing of things. For organisations, this can often be referred as the culture – ‘the way we do things around here’ as Deal & Kennedy (1982) put it. This can include both spoken and unspoken rules, as well as the attitudes and behaviours of those individuals that are members of the organisation. Sometimes, certain practices are continued because that is what members of the public expect or because it is “how it has always been done” even though there might be little evidence to support its continuation. Habit and intuition can play a crucial role in driving these behaviours as can perceptions of good judgement in terms of perpetuating behaviours. In recent years there has been a growing focus on the use of evidence-based approaches in various fields. Put simply, it is no longer enough merely to point to gut feeling, perception or intuition in order to justify decisions which can have significant long-term implications for individuals or societies. Rather, a structured approach building on reliable evidence is required. Evidence-based management Evidence-based management is about making decisions through the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources by: Asking: translating a practical issue or problem into an answerable question. Acquiring: systematically searching for and retrieving the evidence. Appraising: critically judging the trustworthiness and relevance of the evidence. Aggregating: weighing and pulling together the evidence. Applying: incorporating the evidence into the decision-making process. Assessing: evaluating the outcome of the decision taken to increase the likelihood of a favourable outcome. (Barends, Rousseau and Briner, 2018, p. 2)

Figure 1 Evidence-base practice process (Barends, Rousseau and Briner, 2018, p. 5) This diagram as a centrally placed circle which contains the following: ask, acquire, appraise, aggregate, apply, assess. There are four yellow arrows stretching out from this circle. The first arrow leads out to a bubble which contains the words: Scientific, literature, emperical studies. The second arrow to a bubble which contains the words: Practitioners, professional expertise. The third arrow to a bubble which contains the words: Organization, internal data. The fourth arrow to a bubble which contains the words: Stakeholders, values and concerns

In fields such as science or medicine where information and data and be more readily quantified this might seem like common sense, but these same approaches have also emerged in a wide range of other fields. This includes areas such as management and education where evidence is often less quantitative – that is to say, reliant on numbers and numeric data – but instead more qualitative and is based more on opinions, impressions and feedback. Rather than one necessarily being better than the other, it is important to highlight that both play a crucial role in helping us make better decisions. As part of this, practitioners in all fields have started to make better use of evidence and evidence-based approaches to support their decisions. The logic of evidence-based practice in all professional fields is that using greater quantities, sources and types of evidence in a critical and systematic way will contribute to better decision making processes and improve the quality of outcomes. A real challenge can be that the evidence used is often limited. Key reasons can include: A lack of evidence A lack of a sufficiently diverse range of evidence sources It is not critically appraised for quality and/or relevance. It is not used in a systematic way.

Figure 2 A picture of a person looking into the woods, with two clear and separate pathways ahead of them.

Activity 1 Decision making Think about a decision you made recently, whether at work or outside. What sources of evidence did you draw on in making that decision? Are these among the four sources of ‘best available’ evidence identified? Did you critically appraise the evidence in the way described above? If you did, how did you go about this? If not, what is your judgement now of the quality of the evidence you used? As humans we can all tend to fall into typical patterns of decision making. While sometimes these patterns might involve using evidence in a structured methodical way as outlined, our decision making is often based on prior experience or even gut feel. Although this might lead us to the correct decision, more often than not failing to draw on and critically appraise evidence can take result in errors and mistakes.

In some ways, the term ‘evidence-based policing’ might seem rather odd. After all, evidence is and always has been a crucial element of investigations since the first policing organisations were established. Evidence-based policing is, however, less about the evidence used to support an investigation and more about the evidence to support the effectiveness of the investigation techniques utilised. The evidence-based approach to policing was first conceived by the American criminologist, Herman Goldstein, when he developed an approach known as Problem Oriented Policing (POP). The POP model ‘is an approach to tackling crime and disorder that involves the identification of a specific problem, through analysis to understand the problem, the development of a tailored response and an assessment of the effects of the response’ (College of Policing, 2017). In developing this framework, Goldstein sought to use research-based evidence to challenge the three main functions of the model of policing utilised at that time namely: preventative patrol rapid response solving crimes to catch offenders (Goldstein, 1979) This approach in turn led to the emergence of evidence-based policing, developed by criminologist Professor Larry Sherman. Sherman argues that EBP is ‘a method of making decisions about “what works” in policing: which practices and strategies accomplish police missions most cost-effectively’. (Sherman, 2013, p. 377) Defining evidence-based policing? In an evidence-based policing approach, police officers and staff create, review and use the best available evidence to inform and challenge policies, practices and decisions. As a way of working, it can be supported by collaboration with academics and other partners. The ‘best available’ evidence will use appropriate research methods and sources for the question being asked. Research should be carefully conducted, peer reviewed and transparent about its methods, limitations, and how its conclusions were reached. The theoretical basis and context of the research should also be made clear. Where there is little or no formal research, other evidence such as professional consensus and peer review, may be regarded as the ‘best available’, if gathered and documented in a careful and transparent way. Research can be used to: develop a better understanding of an issue – by describing the nature, extent and possible causes of a problem or looking at how a change was implemented; or assess the effect of a policing intervention – by testing the impact of a new initiative in a specific context or exploring the possible consequences of a change in policing. Evidence-based policing does not provide definitive answers that officers and staff should apply uncritically. Officers and staff will reflect on their practice, consider how the ‘best available’ evidence applies to their day to day work, and learn from their successes and failures. The approach should mean officers and staff can ask questions, challenge accepted practices and innovate in the public interest. (College of Policing, 2020) When considered from this perspective, evidence-based policing may seem complex. Yet as Braga (2009) points out: ‘While it is acknowledged that evidence-based policing can serve other useful purposes (for example, improving police training standards, improving police-community relations), the main outcome of interest or “bottom line” is crime prevention.’ As is no doubt clear, evidence-based policing involves adopting a structured approach towards any issues or topics that are to be studied. Bryant and Bryant (2019) argue that there are usually five distinct stages in any EBP project: State the question Gather the existing evidence Assess the existing evidence and undertake research Implement the findings Evaluate the implementation While each of these stages is of crucial importance, it is the third stage – in which the evidence is assessed – that can be the most challenging.

For evidence-based policing to be successful it is crucial that evidence is fully assessed. This will determine if the study was implemented correctly, it will then examine the pre- and post-response data (both qualitative and quantitative). Following this, the process will determine if the goals or objectives of the study were attained. This will allow for the identification of successful strategies and to ascertain if any new strategies may be needed to augment the original plan. An important element is that this assessment process is repeated at regular intervals to ensure the continued effectiveness of the study. Randomised Control Trial A key element of Sherman’s approach to EBP is the use of a Randomised Control Trial (RCT). The Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing (no date) state that an RCT is, ‘A research design intended to estimate the effects of a target program by’: Identifying a substantial number of people or other units of analysis, Selecting all units eligible for the target program and the RCT, Recording the identifying details of each eligible unit, Assigning some units (treatment group) to receive the program, while Insuring that no other units receive the target program, then Delivering the assigned treatments as randomized, and Comparing outcomes for the two groups During or after an appropriate follow-up period has elapsed. An RCT is essentially an experiment that is conducted in a scientific manner in order to reduce bias and is generally used to try to gain knowledge about a ‘population’. Bedford and Mazerolle (2014, p. 403) highlight a range of examples of situations where RCTs have positively impacted on policing practice, including ‘trials of community policing, alternative approaches to domestic violence, problem-oriented policing, hot-spots policing, repeat-offenders policing, third party policing, crackdowns, and restorative policing’.

While assessing the evidence is key, so too is practical implementation. As Braga (2009) argues: Implementation is critical to the development of the evidence-based policing model. It is not enough to evaluate what strategies work best when implemented properly under controlled conditions. Ongoing research is necessary to determine the results particular police agencies are achieving by applying (or not) the recommended practices. This implies that rather than just being one-off investigation, effective EBP is an ongoing process. Activity 2 Key aspects and research Allow approximately 10 minutes In the following clip Dr Nicky Miller, Director of Knowledge into Practice at the Open University’s Centre for Police Research & Learning, discusses some of the key aspects of evidence-based policing and the research supporting these approaches. Video 1 Dr Nicky Miller Nicky Miller: Hi, I'm Doctor Nicky Miller, and I’m Director of Knowledge into Practice at the Open University Center for Policing Research and Learning. Evidence-based policing is really about the creation, the review, and the use of the best available evidence to perform policing practice and decision making. Evidence-based policing is about the creation of research evidence, to answer questions to inform police policy and practice. It's not just about the creation of that evidence, it's also about reviewing the ability of police officers, and staff, and researchers, to review the quality of existing evidence, and be able to use then that evidence to actually inform police practice and decision making. The key principles for evidence-based policing are around having very robust research evidence, or the best available research evidence, to inform police practice and decision making, and combining that with professional experience and judgment to police officers. And I think, it's about taking a very systematic approach to creating, and reviewing, and using that evidence. So, for example, there are a number of different approaches and processes that have been developed in the College of Policing, which is both a professional body for the police service, uses something called the Atlas Model, which is around Atlas standing, for [INAUDIBLE]] test learn, adapt, and share. So, in taking an evidence-based approach, you will first ask, what's the problem with trying to solve? Is there a better way of doing things compared with our traditional practice? You'll then think about testing some new way of doing something – a new practice – and generate some evidence from that. You will learn from that test, from that evaluation-- from an intervention, whether or not it's a cause, and be based on the evidence. And then if it works, and shown to be effective, you can share that not just amongst your force, but amongst policing in more general. I think it’s about making sure that it's going on the best available evidence to inform policing practice. I think that there’s many examples of policing practices that are probably based more on traditional ways of doing things, and because of that, they're not actually – that things may have changed, the context may have changed, practices have changed. And it may be that they, just because it was the way you used to do it, might not necessarily be the correct way of doing something now. So I think, it's about making sure the practices that you're doing are actually embedded in research evidence. Within evidence-based policing, there’s very much methods for within evidence-based policing. So there's a lot of the emphasis in evidence-based policing has been on the use of very robust search methods to actually show that something works. So there's been because of the introduction by Larry Sherman in particular, around the intent about assessing the quality of interventions in a very robust way. There's been an emphasis on creating impact evaluations based on randomized control trials and systematic literature reviews around creating the evidence base, and synthesizing the best available evidence space. And I think there's a lot of people that think that there’s been too much of an emphasis on creating what works – evidence-based policing. And evidence-based policing is about finding the best available evidence, and that's not necessarily always to answer the question of what works. It might be also to ask how something works, why something works, and creating research geared towards those questions using different research methodologies. And I think that one debate is, that there's been too much emphasis on the creation of impact evaluations, and less so on trying to build and generate robust evidence to ask other particular questions that might be relevant in policing. I think one of the other debates around evidence-based policing is the extent to which it should or shouldn't remain in the purview of researchers and academic researchers. I obviously disagree with that. I feel that evidence-based policing is about taking a coproduced approach to policing. It's about. building the capability and the understanding of police officers to both use understand evidence. And I think doing that in relationships and partnerships with academia actually produces something much more tangible and something much more relevant to use. Another debate is the culture change in policing. Policing has traditionally been based on very much professional expertise and professional judgment. And I think trying to get police to recognize the value that research evidence can bring to its practice is quite a challenge. There's a cultural challenge that academia doesn't belong within policing. But also I think there’s the challenge about senior leaders perhaps in policing not recognizing the value that search evidence can bring to policing practice. And obviously senior leadership is integral in trying to change the culture of policing. So I think there’s a real challenge in trying to raise awareness among senior leaders about the real value of evidence-based as an approach. Another challenge that I think that policing faces, in terms of evidence-based policing, is about translating the research into practice – the research evidence into practice. I think it’s very easy for academia, even in collaboration with policing, to generate research evidence. But then it's less easy to actually then translate that, and show how that research evidence can actually be directly implemented or directly inform policing approaches.

In the clip, Dr Miller discusses not just what evidence-based policing is but also some of the key principles which underpin it. These include seeking to have the best available research evidence and combining that with professional expertise and insight. It also includes taking a systematic approach to creating, reviewing and using evidence. By drawing on these principles, those working in policing can more effectively integrate evidence-based approaches into their day-to-day work.

There is no doubt that EBP offers great opportunities within policing. A number of highly publicized pieces of EBP research have had an impact on policing in various areas and the College of Policing summarises much of the research on the effectiveness of the most common interventions in their Crime Reduction Toolkit.

Figure 3 How effective are body cameras in policing? A close up picture of a body camera being worn by a police officer.

In 2015, the College of Policing published a report on the effectiveness of Body Worn Video (BWV) in policing in London. This extract from the report provides a useful insight into the evidence-based approach taken: Given growing interest in BWV across England and Wales this trial starting in May 2014 sought to test a consistent approach to the distribution of approximately 500 cameras across Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) in ten London boroughs. The basic premise of introducing BWV was that the presence of a camera and the captured footage would improve CJ [criminal justice] outcomes because the quantity and quality of available evidence would increase, thereby supporting victims and witnesses. In addition, it would introduce a layer of accountability for the police and public, which would impact on the quality and nature of interactions – reducing complaints and the number of stops and searches. London’s ‘Global City’ status, with around 31,000 officers, means this trial will address an evidence gap on the impact of BWV in a larger UK force. (Grossmith et al., 2015, p.5) The full College of Policing report outlines in detail the process taken and the conclusions reached. One useful approach for evaluating interventions such as this has been called EMMIE and this is summarised in the table below: Table 1 The EMMIE ModelSource: College of Policing

​Effect	​Impact on crime	Whether the evidence suggests the intervention led to an increase, decrease or had no impact on crime.
Mechanism	How it works	What is it about the intervention that could explain its effect?
​Moderators	Where it works	​In what circumstances and contexts is the intervention likely to work / not work?
Implementation	​How to do it	​What conditions should be considered when implementing an intervention locally?
Economic Cost	​How much it costs	What direct or indirect costs are associated with the intervention and is there evidence of cost benefits?

Activity 3 Putting EBP into practice In Video 2, Superintendent Gordon McCalmont of the Police Service of Northern Ireland discusses some of the challenges and opportunities of putting evidence-based policing into practice. Video 2 Superintendent Gordon McCalmont, Police Service of Northern Ireland GORDON MCCALMONT: My name's Gordon McCalmont. I'm a superintendent in the police service of Northern Ireland. I have 27 years of policing experience and I'm currently on the command team in Derry City and Strabane. I was very fortunate to be afforded the opportunity to study at Cambridge University and get a really significant insight in the evidence-based policing. And the most compelling way it was explained to me is we compare policing to the medical profession and the medical profession's buildup of years and years of evidence, really in-depth research. And if we want to professionalize policing, we have to apply the same rigor and the same evaluations to the work that we are undertaking as a police service protecting communities. Following that insight, so I was very fortunate in making connections and talking to people. So I had the opportunity to-- stop and search, a really controversial issue within policing, and I was able to reach out and meet people from Australia who had done some fantastic experiments around applying the principles of procedural justice to stop and search. And I took up learning some work we'd done with probationers there and brought it back and looked at the host environment in Derry City and Strabane, and developed a course around stop and search. I've also been really invested in terms of crime prevention, and early intervention, and working in partnership with the education authority, working with young people, trauma-informed approaches, ensuring young people aren't criminalized, applying evidence-based practices and working with academics also. And not to mean-- better outcomes for the community is where it really starts for me. So that's individuals, communities, and organizations. If we apply the rigor and the evidence base there, it's better outcomes for everybody across the place. It's our responsibility as a policing service to apply the appropriate evidences there and be reaching out and see what's going on across the world, and gathering that evidence base and applying it to the interventions that we are applying as a police service of Northern Ireland. And the biggest advantage to me personally as-- whenever I'm invested in working with those young people, delivering interventions, doing something that I know makes a difference, and again, that goes beyond me. It's every colleague, every member of staff, whenever they're operationalizing in interventions that they're applying in evidence-based. And again, the reward and the fulfillment that comes with that is substantial, as a police officer. Yeah, indeed, obviously, we've made substantial growing. But I still believe we've some way to go. We're a very proud profession, lots of professional judgment. Sometimes you just need to step back from that and be scanning and looking to see what is the best evidence practice. And there's some real challenges. It's a rigorous environment. We're always looking for quick solutions. But sometimes we just need to put the brakes on and step back, make sure we've got the right evaluation, because what is really important is that we're doing stuff, we're actually creating the evidence base also, so the evaluation has to be correct. And we're always looking for results as policing services to protect communities. Community expectations, real challenges as imply in some of the stuff with the interventions, no community expectations. Whenever there is a burglary, they just want us to respond quite rightly with lots of police resource, but the reality is that could just be regression to the mean, whenever we look at the data and start examining the evidence base around it. If we look at the evidence base around hotspots, locations and offenders, it's quite compelling with durable hotspots that we need to maintain in other areas, yet the community's telling us we need to be in such and such an area. Policing, we can be risk-averse about new interventions or taking an issue of some other parts of the world. Our own culture is this is the way we do things around here. We've always done it. But I really do think, rather than being a boxer on the ropes, taking the punches, we need to step outside and look at the evidence base across the world and start drawing in new practices and new interventions. And policing, by its very nature, it's about crisis management and creating that space so that we can look at prevention and early intervention. Can be a real challenge as we manage the demands on a day-to-day basis, and also for the aspects of setting up an evidence-based policing unit. Where do you find the resource? Where do you find the finances for that with the challenges of the ongoing demand? Key for me in the process is that I applied, as I said, evidence-based policing goes beyond me. It's every colleague operationalized. And so we use the Sahara model. And I think whenever we're applying the analysis aspect, we're reaching out. And I find very useful the toolkit on the College of Policing website, which we can draw down at and give us an insight to what is the evidence base around certain interventions. Because there are all interventions out there that have been proven to cause harm. If we look at Scared Straight, an intervention with young juveniles being taken to prisons to get an insight, that was actually shown to increase offending. So we need to look at other stuff that we know doesn't work. And the focus, again, whenever it comes to the assessment through the Sahara model, that we're ensuring that we know whenever we get to the end of the intervention or a year in the intervention, how do we tell how that works? How do we know we have a responsibility to be adding and supporting the development of that evidence base? And a key is collaboration, reaching out to partners who have their own evidence bases. I talked about young people earlier, getting an understanding of what works with them. And my learning around that was with young people and the real positive outcomes in terms of peer support, mentoring, having a real difference in young people, and ensuring they don't go down the difficult pathways. And indeed with communities as well, and getting them to understand them, because they'll have their own evidence base of what has worked before and what hasn't worked. And it's really about gathering that information and getting a real keen insight. And as police officers, I was as guilty as anyone. You stand and you'd be an academic tone, this might be the way to do stuff or that might be the stuff, we can be resistant, but the reality is whenever we get some balance, common ground, some of the evidence based on, again, I mentioned around places, I mentioned around the concentration and in terms of offenders, and the data around that is very, very compelling. And as a policing service, we have to listen.

As discussed in the clip, putting evidence-based policing approaches into practice brings great opportunity to enhance policing and better serve communities. Yet it also comes with challenges and is not always easy to do correctly. Nonetheless, the benefits far outweigh the challenges and any opportunity to implement evidence-based approaches should be embraced. While it might be tempting to conclude that an evidence-based approach is just common sense, this is far from being the case. Human decision making is complex and is shaped by a range of social and psychological phenomena. Key factors impacting on the success of an evidence-based approach include: Misconceptions about the idea of evidence-based practice Sources of bias Professional fads and fashions Power, politics and careers.

Several common ‘myths’ and misconceptions have arisen about evidence-based practice which prevent practitioners developing the skills needed to undertake it. Some of the most prevalent are: evidence only means quantitative ‘scientific’ evidence practitioners should not use their own professional expertise or ‘gut feel’ to make decisions evidence is about objective truth and can prove things the newest breakthrough studies provide the best evidence collecting valid and relevant evidence solves the problem if you don’t have evidence, you can’t do anything evidence-based practice just means proven techniques or best practices experts (e.g. consultants and university professors) know all about the evidence so you just need to ask them. Perhaps not surprisingly, Moore (2006) also makes the point that if not managed carefully, an excessive focus on evidence-based practice over experience-based knowledge gleaned through qualitative studies can be detrimental to gaining real-world insights.

Various forms of cognitive bias can impact the way in which people seek and interpret evidence. If biases are not managed carefully, they may ultimately impact on both the decision-making process itself and the quality of decisions made, as well as on the powers utilised in the framing and implementation of policy. There are six commonly held sources of cognitive bias which hamper evidence-based decision making: Confirmation bias – the tendency to search for and interpret information consistent with our existing beliefs. Availability heuristic – the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of an event happening based on our most recent memory of it or something similar happening. If we can remember something easily, its importance is heightened. Hindsight bias – the tendency to see past events as being more predictable than they were before the event occurred. Anchoring effect – the tendency to over-emphasise or over-rely on a single piece of evidence. Framing effect – the tendency to draw different conclusions from the same information presented in different ways (e.g. if a food is ‘85% fat free’ or contains ‘15% fat’). Meta-cognitive bias – this is the tendency to believe that although others may suffer from bias, we are immune from it.

Most professions witness trends in the popularity of particular ideas which come and go over time. These appear simple to understand and implement, and they often promise to deliver a specific set of outcomes using an equally specific package of tools or interventions. It is this apparently straightforward ‘cause effect’ relationship, combined with their ‘cutting edge’ newness which appeals to practitioners, particularly those looking for a quick fix and/or career enhancement. Their reassuring simplicity of use also helps contain anxieties about the uncertainties of professional decision making, and vagaries of organisational and wider social processes. This has also been found in a policing context, where one researcher (Lumsden, 2016) has noted that evidence-based policing has often been seen as a buzzword, perhaps in part because it is not only poorly understood but also poorly applied in practice.

Career progression can be an important driver of professional behaviours. Hence it is important to understand what kinds of behaviours are valued and rewarded by the organisations in which we work, and in particular by the managers and leaders of those organisations. The most important question from our perspective is: ‘Do senior professionals and managers get to their positions by being evidence based in their decision making?’ One of the ways we can begin to recognise the importance of power and organisational politics is to reflect on some of the differences between the standards we aspire to as professionals (often referred to as our ‘espoused goals’) and what drives our day-to-day work (our ‘implicit goals’). Table 2 is an example, based on the work of the Center for Evidence-Based Management. Table 2 Aspiration and practice in professional behaviour(Adapted from www.cebma.org)

Espoused goals	Implicit goals
to do what worksto help our organisation/service fulfil its missionto identify and solve important problemsto do what mattersto treat everyone equallyto speak honestly and truthfully to colleagues and managers.	get things donefurther my careeravoid troublefix immediate problemsmeet targets and do what gets measuredfavour those who can help advance my personal goalssay what those people want to hear.

Politics can also play out in other ways, most particularly in terms of resource allocation. Kadry, for example, argues that a real challenge in undertaking evidence-based research in policing can be a lack of engagement and cooperation due a lack of time and resources: Another consideration is that an EBP approach that seeks to understand the successes and failures of long-term operations and policing initiatives is highly dependent on the cooperation of the police officers carrying out the work. ‘Cooperation’ here is not used to denote willingness to be a part of an evidence-based policing test, but rather whether police officers have been assigned enough time and training to be able to carry out the duties and deliver the information needed for the integrity of a test to be upheld. In other words, ensuring that any evaluation does not commend or condemn the tactics used in a policing initiative, where it may have been the deployment (or lack thereof) of the tactics that may misrepresent the efficacy of the tactics. (Kadry, 2019, p.10) Ultimately, while EBP may be beneficial for some policing problems it is not a universal panacea. By recognising these challenges, we can begin to establish how evidence-based approaches might be applied most effectively for the benefit of communities, police and other stakeholders.

Over recent years, key practices related to evidence-based policing have gained greater relevance and importance. This course has explored the background to evidence-based practices in policing and how they reflect an increased desire to support decisions and interventions with clear evidence and data, so enhancing their delivery and overall effectiveness. By taking a more evidence-based approach to policing, it is intended that police services will be better able to support communities and deliver more effective policing for the benefit of all. Barends, E., Rousseau, D. and Briner, R. (2018) ‘Evidence-based management: the basic principles’, in Barends, E. and Rousseau, D. (eds.) Evidence-based management: how to use evidence to make better orgnanizational decisions. London: Kogan Page, pp. 1–19. Bedford, L. and Mazerolle, L. (2014) ‘Beyond the evidence: organizational learning from RCTs in policing’, Policing: a journal of policy and practice, 8(4), pp. 402–416. Braga, A. (2009) ‘Evidence-Based Policing’, in Wakefield, A. and Fleming, J. (eds.) The SAGE dictionary of policing. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 113–115. Bryant, R., and Bryant, S. (eds.) (2019) Blackstone’s Handbook for Policing Students 2020, 14th Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Sherman, L. W. (no date) 50 Key Concepts in Evidence-Based Policing. Available at; https://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/mst-documents/50keyebp. (Accessed: 18 August 2020). College of Policing (2017) Problem-oriented policing. Available at: https://whatworks.college.police.uk/toolkit/Pages/Intervention.aspx?InterventionID=47. (Accessed: 18 August 2020). College of Policing (2020) What is evidence-based policing?. Available at: https://whatworks.college.police.uk/About/Pages/What-is-EBP.aspx. (Accessed: 18 August 2020). Deal, T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin. Goldstein, H. (1979) ‘Improving Policing: A Problem-Oriented Approach’, Crime & Delinquency, 24(2), pp. 236-258. Grossmith, L., Owens, C., Finn, W., Mann, D., Davies, T. and Baika, L. (2015) Police, Camera, Evidence: London’s cluster randomised controlled trial of Body Worn Video. Available at: https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/bwc/pdfs/CoPBWVreportNov2015.pdf (Accessed: 18 August 2020). Kadry, A. T. (2019) ‘Practical considerations for implementing an evidence-based policing approach in police operations: a case study’, Policing and Society, p. 1–13. Lumsden, K. (2016) ‘Police officer and civilian staff receptivity to research and evidence-based policing in the UK: providing a contextual understanding through qualitative interviews’, Policing: a journal of policy and practice, 11 (2), pp. 157–167. Moore, M. H. (2006) ‘Improving police through expertise, experience, and experiments’, in Weisburd, D. and Braga, A. (eds.) Police Innovation: Contrasting Perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press. Sherman, L. (2013) ‘The rise of evidence-based policing: Targeting, testing, and tracking’, Crime and Justice, 42(1), pp. 377–451. This free course was written by Laurie Knell. It was first published in March 2021. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated and referenced in the course and in the acknowledgemetns section, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence. The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course: Images Course Image: courtesy Police Service of Northern Ireland Figure 1: adapted: Barends, E., Rousseau, D. and Briner, R. (2018) ‘Evidence-based management: the basic principles’, Fig 1.1, p. 5 in Barends, E. and Rousseau, D. (eds.) Evidence-based management: how to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. London Figure 2: Vladislav Babienko/https://unsplash.com/photos/KTpSVEcU0XU Figure 3: JOHN GOMEZ/Getty Images Audio-visual Video 1: Nicky Miller © The Open University Video 2: Superintendent Gordon McCalmont © The Open University Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Don't miss out If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses.

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