Critical Reflections on Evidence-Based Policing

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has over the last decade made an increasing mark in several fields, notably health and medicine, education and social welfare. In recent years it has begun to make its mark in criminal justice. As engagement with EBP has spread, it has begun to evolve from what might be regarded as a somewhat narrow doctrine and orthodoxy to something more complex and various. Often criminological research has been at odds with the assumptions, conventions and methodologies associated with first generation EBP. In that context EBP poses a challenge to the research community and existing evidence base and is, accordingly, hotly controversial.

This book is a welcome and timely contribution to current debates on evidence-based practice in policing. With a sharp conceptual focus, the chapters provide a critical examination of the recent history of EBP in academic, policy and practitioner communities, evaluate key dimensions of its application to policing, challenge established understandings and pave the way for a much needed change in how research ‘evidence’ is perceived, generated, transferred, implemented and evaluated.

Nigel Fielding is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His research interests are in criminology (policing, the courts) and research methodology (digital research technologies, mixed methods). Nigel is the author/editor of 24 books and more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles. In policing, these include publications on police training, community policing, police integrity, intelligence-led policing, injury on duty, police use of social media and the effects of the recruitment of minority officers on crime rates and public confidence. His most recent book is Professionalizing the Police: The Unfulfilled Promise of Police Training (2018).

Karen Bullock is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey. She has conducted numerous studies into many aspects of police practice, the impact of the police role on police personnel and the relationship between the police and society. She is also interested in crime reduction theory and practice, evidence-based policy and practice, and evaluation methodology.

Simon Holdaway, Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Sociology at the University of Sheffield and part-time Professor of Criminology, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), School of Social Sciences, left school aged 16 with minimal qualifications. He joined the Metropolitan Police Cadet Force and served subsequently as a constable and, then, sergeant, for eleven years. His early research, based on a unique, covert study of policing, brought the concept of ‘police occupational culture’ to prominence. Apart from his research about police culture he has also written books and many academic papers about aspects of race relations within constabularies. His work has informed national policies; public inquiries into policing; key industrial tribunal cases involving minority ethnic officers and the work of Black Police Associations across the UK.