Evidence-based policing is a method of making decisions about “what works” in policing: which practices and strategies accomplish police missions most cost-effectively. In contrast to basing decisions on theory, assumptions, tradition, or convention, an evidence-based approach continuously tests hypotheses with empirical research findings. While research on all aspects of policing grew substantially in the late twentieth century, the application of research to police practice intensified in the early twentyfirst century, especially for three tasks that make up the “triple-T” strategy of policing: targeting, testing, and tracking. Evidence-based targeting requires systematic ranking and comparison of levels of harm associated with various places, times, people, and situations that policing can lawfully address. Evidence-based testing helps assure that police neither increase crime nor waste money. Tracking whether police are doing what police leaders decide should be done may grow most rapidly in coming years by the use of GPS records of where police go and body-worn video records of what happens in encounters with citizens.

methods

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The quality of police education

The Rise of Evidence-Based Policing: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking

TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY: AN INTRODUCTION, Sixth Edition, is the best-selling terrorism book on the market. National terrorism expert Jonathan R. White provides specific examples that will enable you to understand how terrorism arises and how it functions. Dr. White gives essential historical (pre-1980) background on the phenomenon of terrorism and the roots of contemporary conflicts, includes detailed descriptions of recent and contemporary conflicts shaping the world stage, and presents theoretical and concrete information about Homeland Security organizations. Throughout, he reviews the relevant issues and challenges. With this sixth edition, Dr. White has fine-tuned the text and kept pace with the state of terrorism in today's world.

Terrorism and Homeland Security

Arguments for and against measures intended to raise the educational levels of police officers turn partly on the hypothesized relationships between college education and officers' attitudes and behavior. The purpose of this analysis is to provide additional empirical evidence concerning these hypotheses. The results suggest that college education is weakly related to some attitudes and unrelated to others. The results also show that officers' performance in police-citizen encounters, measured in terms of citizens' evaluations, is largely unrelated to officers' educational backgrounds.

A badge and a baccalaureate: Policies, hypotheses, and further evidence

There has been a long‐standing debate over whether a college education for police officers is desirable or even necessary. Today, with the ever‐expanding complexity of the police role and the transition toward community policing, this question is more significant than ever. A zenith of interest and debate over the requirement of higher education for officers was reached in the 1970s, but it soon died out. However, a quickly changing social landscape, changing job role, rapid technological advancement, domestic terrorism and increased scrutiny have combined to renew the debate over higher education. This article attempts to synthesize past literature and bring the discussion up to date. Finally, the authors will advocate a position that would require a bachelor's degree for police officers over time, using a graduated timetable and supported by federal funding.

Higher education and policing: where are we now?

This paper reviews the current English-language literature on developments in police training and education in order to identify common areas where higher education ‘adds value’ to police learning and development. Reforms in training and education are constituent parts of the ongoing shift to a service-oriented professional police in a number of countries. A comparative analysis of the literature on police training and education is provided here which focuses primarily on the USA, the European Union, Australia and India. The review provides a contribution to international policy debates about future developments in this area.

background

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The quality of police education

Citations

The Rise of Evidence-Based Policing: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking

Terrorism and Homeland Security

A badge and a baccalaureate: Policies, hypotheses, and further evidence

Higher education and policing: where are we now?

Adding value? A review of the international literature on the role of higher education in police training and education

Related Papers (5)

Policing a free society: Herman Goldstein Ballinger publishing co. (Harvard Square, 17 Dunstan Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138), 1977, 371 pp., $16.50 (hard cover), $7.95 (soft cover)

A badge and a baccalaureate: Policies, hypotheses, and further evidence

Varieties of Police Behavior: The Management of Law and Order in Eight Communities

Big-city police

Formal education and police officer performance.