Evidence-Based Policing

In a 1998 lecture for the Police Foundation, Lawrence Sherman stated that police should base their strategies and tactics on what has been shown, through systematic and scientific study, to be effective. Although this was by no means a new idea (e.g., many people had called for research into police practices during the upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s), this idea gained traction and began to develop into what is now a widely recognized perspective of both scholars and decision makers known as evidence-based policing. Evidence-based policing posits that high-quality knowledge from research, analysis, and evaluation should be included in tactical, strategic, managerial, and community-oriented conversations about law enforcement. An example of evidence-based policing would be a police commander avoiding heavy reliance on reactive responses ...