Researching evidence-based policing
The Research Inspector looks at ongoing research by Dr Garth den Heyer of the National Police Foundation, Washington DC, on evidence-based policing and the influence this has had on the UK.
The adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) by policing and law enforcement organisations has seen dramatic growth in recent years. The reason for the increase and how EBP is implemented in an agency is unclear, as is the effect of the adoption and implementation of EBP on the delivery of community-oriented police services and in the confidence in the police by the public.
It seems likely that a combination of factors is at play: there is a growing body of literature on ‘what works in policing’; researchers and funding agencies have recognised the importance of disseminating useful research; practitioners have been more willing to engage in experimentation and other research methods; and limited resources have meant that forces and agencies are pressured to work with fewer resources.
The demands of policing have become complicated by the expanding roles of the police that now not only include the prevention and investigation of local occurrences of crime, but offences that are international and complex in nature, such as slavery, human trafficking, terrorism and cyber.
As a result of the complexity in delivering efficient and effective community-oriented policing services, there is a need for the development and implementation of strategies and programmes that are evidence-based.
One approach to assist police with the formation and implementation of strategies is EBP. According to Lum and Koper (2015), EBP “is a law-enforcement perspective and philosophy that implicates the use of research, evaluation, analysis and scientific processes in law enforcement decision making”.
Knowledge management provides a useful framework for understanding the uptake of knowledge in law enforcement organisations. The existing research suggests that close working relationships between law enforcement practitioners and researchers can be mutually beneficial.
Substantial barriers exist however, that often makes it difficult to form these close working relationships. The loose coupling between researchers and practitioners can have negative implications for the uptake of research information into organisations, while existing research leaves a number of questions unanswered about the specific mechanisms of information uptake within policing and how such research is implemented by police agencies.
The recognition that research can contribute to more efficient, effective, fair and equitable policing, belies the fact that the adoption and integration of EBP has not been universal. Barriers to adoption still appear to exist and as those barriers remain unknown, the utility of research to inform police agency strategy and practice will be unnecessarily hampered.
Not having an understanding as to why the adoption of EBP is not universal, how the adoption of EBP has been implemented in police agencies or its effect on the delivery of community-oriented policing services creates a gap in our knowledge in the management of change in police agencies and in how police and their programs influence social change.
The goals of the research
Dr Heyer’s new research project has four goals. The first is to study why police agencies have adopted EBP; the second is to examine how these agencies have implemented the approach into their processes, strategies and operations to improve community-oriented policing services; the third is to examine whether the introduction and implementation assists with the professionalisation of policing and police agencies; and the fourth is to examine whether the introduction of EBP improves the delivery of community oriented policing services.
The following three research questions are formed from the goals of the research:
- How have police agencies adopted and implemented EBP;
- How has the adoption and implementation of EBP affected the agency’s processes, strategies and the delivery of community-oriented policing services; and
- How has the adoption of EBP by police agencies affected their relationship with the community?
The research will be undertaken Dr den Heyer, a former police officer and now with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. The US component of the research is sponsored by the US Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS office) and the UK component is sponsored by Walden University.
The research will comprise three parts:
- An electronic survey of members of the International Association of Law Enforcement Planners (IALEP) and the four Societies of Evidence-Based Policing (SEBP) – US, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand;
- Interviews of academics, researchers, executives, planners, project managers and administrators in the US and in the UK; and
- Field research involving seven US police agencies and six police forces in the UK.
There are expected to six outcomes from completing the research:
- An increased knowledge and understanding of how evidence-based policing is being adopted and implemented by police agencies;
- An increased knowledge and understanding of how the adoption of evidence-based policing is affecting the agency’s processes, strategies, community relationships and delivery of community-oriented policing services;
- An increase in our knowledge and understanding of the links between the introduction of EBP and the police relationship with the-community;
- The opportunity for US and UK police agencies to reflect on how they develop and implement evidence-based research;
- Encouragement to debate evidence-based policing, the professionalisation of policing and the link to community-oriented policing; and
- The provision of information pertaining to the adoption of evidenced-based policing which will provide a basis for further research and examination.
The first part of the research, the electronic survey, was undertaken in March, with an electronic survey invitation being sent to the members of the IALEP and the four SEBP’s. The invitation to survey will include an individual link to the questionnaire that will include topics on the understanding of EBP and policing research, the use and adoption of EBP, and the relationship between EBP and service delivery.
The interview and field research parts of the research will be undertaken in UK and the US between May and August. If you would like to contribute to this exciting new research you can contact Dr den Heyer at garth.den.heyer@gmail.com
Professor John Coxhead works for the five forces and the offices of the police and crime commissioners of the East Midlands Policing Academic Collaboration and eight regional universities to develop policing research.
