Police and Evidence-based Policing Essay

Evidence-Based-Policing pen by Desiree Rosch Instructor Atthur Moghalu Introduction to Criminal Justice Evidence-based policing is a manner of policing that uses research to create or change policies to increase effectiveness. Lawrence W Sherman, an faculty member criminologist, is credited with making the term Evidence-based Policing (EBP) popular. During a lecture Sherman stated, Police practices should be based on scientific evidence about what works best. commencement in the 1960s several organizations were formed to conduct studies on how to fall in prevent crime and increase the publics confidence in law enforcement.The first of which was the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration created by carnal knowledge in 1969. There are many benefits to development an evidence-based policing stance, such as being able to see the actual results of your policies. This enables an agency to make inevitable changes to the trend they operate inorder to accomplish their missions mor e effectively, such as ever-changing where and when units patrol certain areas. It also allows them to come up with completely in the altogether programs and procedures they whitethorn non have developed on their own.The disadvantage of using research to change the way a law enforcement agency operates is that those changes may be expensive to implement. The agency may even find that the way they approach a situation could be completely wrong accord to the research. Another problem with an evidence-based policing system is that the results may be accurate for where the excogitate took place, but may not reflect the samedata you would obtain in other area. Things like income, education levels, backgrounds, cultures, etc can influence the effectiveness of procedures based on studies in another location.The Kansas City Experiment in 1974 is the most substantially known example of studies done on law enforcement. The results of this study were not what researchers were expecting. The agency found that increased patrol units had no effect on either crimes committed or the publics perception of how true(p) they were. These findings changed the way many agencies allot their patrol units. Another study conducted in Redlands, California was on the procedure of sending a follow up unit to make contact with a domestic violence victim after the initial call.