Introduction
Evidence-based policing (EBP) is a way of policy-making and tactical decision-making for police departments. Cordner (2020) explains that the concept has its foundations in the larger movement toward evidence-based practices. This approach aims to eradicate unsound or outdated methods that are no longer effective and replace them with more reasonable ones. Brown et al. (2018) suggest that it is achieved by moving the basis for deciding from conventional, unsystematic experience and intuition to grounded scientific research. Advocates of this strategy emphasize the importance of statistical analysis, empirical research, and ideally randomised controlled experiments (Brown et al., 2018).
EBP does not dismiss more traditional drivers of police decision-making, but it seeks to increase awareness and application of scientific testing, targeting, and tracking police resources, particularly during greater public scrutiny and budget cuts.
Policymakers, as representatives of citizens’ interests, should strive to consider the general population’s concerns when making decisions about police organizations. The commonly perceived function of the police is to maintain people’s peace; however, sometimes, the same forces are used to suppress violent movements and activities. Still, the end goal is to ensure the occupational safety of the general population (Di Nota and Huhta, 2019).
According to Brown et al. (2018), the police usually make enforcement decisions due to flow-through effects in subsequent criminal activities. The old methods used by police officers may or may not be helpful; hence, the goal of EBP is to perform scientific research to find practical solutions for real-world problems (Cordner, 2020). Overall, the main aim of this paper is to discuss the topic of EBP by focusing on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned.
Challenges, Achievements, and Lessons Learned from Evidence-Based Policing
Challenges Facing Evidence-Based Policing
The animosity between academics and police officers appears to last long with terms such as procedural justice as well as fair and impartial policing training. It shows that everyone has bias regardless of profession or career (Brown et al., 2018). The training asserts that implicit and explicit bias can be managed and reduced if the police understand these two types of bias. A limited study suggests that fair and impartial policing training leads to more harm in the event it is implemented (Atkinson, 2019). It does not mean the concept lacks value in law enforcement (Atkinson, 2019). It means that it provides solutions to the challenges of policing and what may be a more extensive set of social problems.
A police officer wishes to be trusted while rising to the challenge of making informed decisions. Ariel, Weisberg, and Braga (2019) show that introducing fair and impartial training can help attain discretion and better decision-making capacity in policing. The importance of discretion in policing can never be overestated. Dynamic demands necessitate shifting priorities to sound decision-making that comes from the place of discretion. Some groups argue that the police should sometimes act without discretion to ensure their security (Ariel, Weisberg, and Braga, 2019). However, it is this ineffectual policing that hinders progress. The hope is that data, leadership, science, and research will motivate and empower police to adopt more efficacious practices.
Police leadership is vital since implementing EBP is most effective when established at the operational level. However, challenges abound due to an improper interpretation of this concept, leading to a misunderstanding between chiefs, captains, first-line supervisors, and commanders (Brown et al., 2018). Furthering the challenges is the fact that policing has a persuasive culture with solid traditions and more expectations for recruits. The deep-rooted conformity to tradition and culture and overemphasis on street smarts and instincts appear to hinder the progress of EBP concepts. Nevertheless, first-line police supervisors, who have the greatest influence on the culture at the operational level, can alter this situation in favour of EBP.
However, conformism has its basis in a firmly held notion that policing is the responsibility of local authority. American culture anticipates local governments and municipalities being responsible for their communities. There are 18,000 police departments and about 700,000 police officers in the United States (Collins et al., 2019). The problem is that many have diverse cultural backgrounds, educational and training requirements, ten or fewer members, as well as significant budgetary and resource limitations (Collins et al., 2019). Municipal policing is peculiar since every community usually has particular demographics and problems. Still, policing as a job has a long way to go before similar universal standards should be implemented in all police organizations. A good start would be to embrace national research on the matter.
It is unsurprising then that there are challenges in conformity. Individuals in policing cannot agree on the methods they employ when faced with a high-risk felony. Their techniques vary from one department to another and from state to state (Cordner, 2020). In fact, such a substantial variation in requirements and methodologies exists despite the attempts at standardised training by different policing associations. Research may also provide better information by shifting the police cultures from focusing on outputs to measuring and working towards positive results (DeVylder et al., 2018). Nevertheless, implementing outcomes and assessing community relationship-building at the police officer patrol level will only be achieved if institutionalised thinking is entrenched, change is resisted, and short-term objectives through outputs are the only predominant focus.
Achievements of Evidence-Based Policing
Members of the American Society of EBP aim to continue changing the perception of the concept. The society consists of front-line police officers who suggest that officers become the study drivers while collaborating with researchers to get the answers to questions relevant to policing’s core missions (Gibbs, 2019). What is critically essential is that law enforcement is the one that has the correct view of the world within which everyone operates (Di Nota and Huhta, 2019). Research in EBP is conducted using randomised controlled trials (RCT), which are considered the gold standard approach to study methodology (Di Nota and Huhta, 2019).
RCTs are designs that contrast the counterfactual results with the actual results (Di Nota and Huhta, 2019). They are randomised comparisons between the regular activities, viewed as controls, and an equal number of treatments or interventions (Di Nota and Huhta, 2019). Some of the past achievements of evidence-based policing witnessed in society are discussed below.
How Evidence-Based Policing Has Helped to Find Crime Patterns
Crime-related risks often fluctuate and are influenced by the hour of the day, day of the week, type of holiday, season, and weather. Additionally, most unlawful acts are committed by individuals with some previous criminal background (Gershenson and Hayes, 2018). According to Gibbs (2019), only 20% of the population may be responsible for 80% of all events. Law enforcement has been able to track serial offenders for repeat offences and determine when they are detained or released from jail, which is possible due to the assistance of crime analysts (Gibbs, 2019). When crime rates are at their highest in a community, patrol teams are staffed.
EBP allows for making the work of police officers more specific and goal-oriented. After analysing the data, the police have ensured to deploy crime reduction teams to target hot spots, people, and periods (Gershenson and Hayes, 2018). In collaboration with probation, parole, and prosecution, the random patrol has been avoided in favour of a more focused approach to offenders (Gershenson and Hayes, 2018). In the past, some officers appeared to overstaff during off-duty hours and days while ignoring their crime statistics when the criminal activity occurred; this was probably due to contractual responsibilities (Telep and Somers, 2019). In general, it requires a potential perpetrator, a target, and the absence of an opposing party who would be concerned enough to intervene.
How Evidence-Based Policing Has Contributed to Hot Spot Policing
EBP has resulted in identifying important information about crime-infested areas, something that has contributed to safe measures by the police. With a policing tactic known as Koper Curve, the police can reduce crime by analysing data and patrolling hot spots randomly and unpredictably every two minutes for around twenty minutes (Gottlieb and Wilson, 2019). Hot spot research was conducted in Sacramento, comparing an intervention region to a control area (Gottlieb and Wilson, 2019). As a result, compared to the hot places where business as usual continued, crime incidence decreased by 25% in the intervention hot spots (Gottlieb and Wilson, 2019).
In the intervention group, calls for service decreased by about 8%, whereas they climbed by 1% in the hot spots where things continued as before (Haskins, 2018). With that proof, the police in other Californian cities began proactively stopping automobiles and pedestrians in dangerous places (Piza, Szkola, and Blount-Hill, 2021). Law enforcement officials frequently visited the hotspots to show their enthusiasm, commitment, and overall investment in the strategy.
It is believed that visiting hotspots helps police officers to appreciate the importance of methodology and practice because preventing and solving crimes requires a strategic approach. For most police agencies that are tight for resources and constantly responding to calls, stationing a police officer in a crime-prone neighbourhood is not feasible (Haskins, 2018). Nevertheless, police leaders have realised that they can unpredictably deploy an officer in that spot for fifteen minutes (Haskins, 2018). After some time, the crime rate may reduce, and this plan can become more manageable for any police department.
How Evidence-Based Policing Has Helped Mitigate Burglary Risks
For the first ten to fourteen days after a burglary, the predictable risk of residential burglary occurs in the areas surrounding a victim’s home. EBP promotes the gathering and use of such data that could safeguard people’s lives and property. Although the evidence was disregarded for a while, it has recently been tested in other locations, including Redlands and Baltimore (Homer and Fisher, 2020). The local police agencies sent neighbours warnings about the dangers they faced and advice on how to keep their homes safe (Homer and Fisher, 2020). For instance, using window locks, ring technologies, alarms, motion lights, monitoring, encouraging neighbourhood watch, and mowing the grass.
How Evidence-Based Policing Has Helped to Determine Domestic Homicide Predictors
The general pattern was noticed that prior episodes of domestic abuse appear to significantly predict homicide in families. The latter particularly elevated during the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Jennings and Perez, 2020). Indeed, about 33 arrests per 100 domestic crimes occurred only in March 2020 in Wales and England (Stripe, 2020). These crimes include aggravated assault, manslaughter, attempted murder, and homicide (Jennings and Perez, 2020).
The case-control study found that male offenders who assaulted their partners had more than three times the likelihood of having suicidal inclinations compared to other violent offenders (Thornton, 2017). Using this data as a threat matrix, law enforcement has been able to plan services accordingly (Lumsden and Goode, 2018). They have used assistance from other partners and support services in the event of suicidal attempts. The fact that police attained the point of developing better preventive strategies instead of punitive methods proves the point that EBP has been an achievement.
How Evidence-Based Policing Has Enhanced Cognitive Interviewing Techniques
Based on numerous studies, cognitive interviewing methods, or asking open-ended questions, reinstating the idea of eliciting memory retrieval cues, and focusing on sensory details helps retain and later retrieve more information. Most U.S. local police do not practice cognitive interviewing techniques when interviewing witnesses of violence and victims (Potts, 2019). Although the evidence shows that these methods make victims feel empowered, heard, and less re-victimised, this interviewing technique is not widespread yet (Potts, 2019). With such data, the police have realised that there is importance in showing empathy and eliminating bias (Kahn and Martin, 2020). It is done by acknowledging trauma and pain and using open-ended questions (Kahn and Martin, 2020). They are now utilising powerful retrieval cues such as smell and sound to improve the outcomes of investigations.
Lessons Learned from Evidence-Based Policing
Thanks to EBP and its achievements, a focus has been placed on better training, which has informed detectives and agents during the interview procedure to successfully get more information. It has been shown to have success in improving police legitimacy and more prosecutions, all attained by doing less harm and offering victims control while comprehending the root causes of their behaviour (Kalyal, 2020). The interview techniques, named therapeutic jurisprudence, have empowered victims (Kalyal, 2020). This practice enables victims to regain control, normalcy, and trust.
The army has had tremendous success training agents in forensic experiential trauma interviewing, similar to cognitive interviewing. According to Keay and Kirby (2018), it is akin to a zebra returning to a watering hole where a predator may have previously attacked. The difference is that the prey must head to the same spot for survival. Some victims make a conscious and deliberate but less difficult choice when navigating interviews and court testimony while attempting to regain normalcy in a post-hyper-vigilant world (Keay and Kirby, 2018). Such memory anomalies can be found in law enforcement-involved shootings, where research has revealed that extra sleep cycles increase recall (Keay and Kirby, 2018).
For example, officers remember what was essential to them at the time, and other memories not vital to survival are ignored. The trauma may leave them frustrated at the inability to recall details and the ultimate feeling that they could have done something better. However, investigation on memory recall has indicated that those exposed to cognitive interviewing methods have better memory retrieval (Mitchell, 2019). The cognitive interview helps combat memory blocks for those undergoing trauma or stress.
Conclusion
The paper has discussed evidence-based policing by focusing on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned. It explains that first-line police supervisors possess the greatest influence on the culture at the operational level. However, the conformism to culture, which affects them, has its basis in a firmly held idea that policing is the responsibility of local police. American culture anticipates that the local governments and municipalities police their communities. There are thousands of police departments and police officers in the United States. The issue is that many have varying cultures, educational and training requirements, ten or fewer members, and great budgetary and resource limitations. Municipal policing is peculiar because every community usually has particular demographics and problems. Still, policing as a job has a long way ahead before similar universal standards are implemented. A good start would be to embrace national research on the matter.
Through EBP, hot spot policing has been made possible in various countries. The police assessing data and patrolling potentially dangerous places sporadically and unpredictably for about twenty minutes can have a tremendous diminishing effect on crime rates. In Sacramento, California, a hot spot study was performed involving an intervention area compared to a control area. The result was that crime incidence was reduced in the patrolled hot spots compared to the business-as-usual places. With that evidence, police in other cities started proactively conducting traffic and pedestrian stops in violent areas. The leaders in law enforcement visited the hot spots often to illustrate their commitment, credibility, enthusiasm, and overall investment in the plan. Such efforts must be encouraged within the police departments to seek better security measures.
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