Extending the remit of evidence-based policing
| Author | Tiggey May,Almuth McDowall,Lisa Tompson,Jyoti Belur,Gillian Hunter,Jennifer Brown |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355717750173 |
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Extending the remit of evidence-based
policing
Jennifer Brown
Mannheim Centre for Criminology, LSE, London, UK
Jyoti Belur
Department of Security and Crime Science, University College, London, UK
Lisa Tompson
Department of Security and Crime Science, University College, London, UK
Almuth McDowall
Department of Organizational Psychology, Birkbeck University of London, UK
Gillian Hunter
School of Law, Birkbeck University of London, UK
Tiggey May
School of Law, Birkbeck University of London, London, WC, UK
Abstract
Evidence-based policing (EBP) is an important strand of the UK’s College of Policing’s Police Education Qualifications
Framework (PEQF), i tself a component of a pro fessionalisation a genda. This article a rgues that the two domin ant
approaches to EBP, experimental criminology and crime science, offer limited scope for the development of a
comprehensive knowledge base for policing. Although both approaches share a common commitment to the values of
science, each recognizes their limited coverage of policing topics. The fundamental difference between them is what each
considers ‘best’ eviden ce. This article critic ally examines the gener ation of evidence by these t wo approaches and
proposes an extension to the range of issues EBP should cover by utilizing a greater plurality of methods to exploit
relevant research. Widening the scope of EBP would provide a broader foundational framework for inclusion in the PEQF
and offers the potential for identifying gaps in the research, constructing blocks for knowledge building, and syllabus
development in higher level police education.
Keywords
Evidence base policing, crime science, experimental criminology, evidence-based management, evidence-based policy,
mixed methods
Submitted 11 Sep 2017, accepted 04 Dec 2017
Introduction
Professionalization of the police dates back to the 1930s
(Vollmer, 1936) and is the subject of much contemporary
debate, particularly in Western democracies (Green and
Corresponding author:
Jennifer Brown, LSE, Houghton Street, London, London WC2A, UK.
Email: j.brown5@lse.ac.uk
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2018, Vol. 20(1) 38–51
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355717750173
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