Critical Reflections on Evidence-Based Policing

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.

Section 1: Evidence-Based Policing in Context Introduction: Evidence-based Practice and Policing: Background and Context 1. The Development of Evidence-Based Policing in the UK: Social Entrepreneurs and the Creation of Certainty 2. Research Synthesis, Systematic Reviewing and Evidence-based Policing 3. Street-level Theories of Change: Adapting the Medical Model of Evidence-based Practice for Policing 4. Evaluation Evidence for Evidence-Based Policing: Randomistas and Realists Section 2: Evidence-Based Policing and Police Practice 5. Evidence-Based Policing: Competing or Complementary Models? 6. Democracy, Accountability and Evidence-Based Policing: Who Calls the Shots? 7. Wicked Policing and Magical Thinking: Evidence for Policing Problems that Cannot be ‘Solved’ in an Age of ‘Alternative Facts’ Section 3: Steps Toward Applying Research Evidence to Policing 8. Changing the Narrative: Harnessing Culture as Evidence 9. Effecting Change in Policing Through Police/Academic Partnerships: The Challenges of (and for) Co-production Section 4: Conclusion 10. Evidence-Based Practice in Policing: Future Trends