Evidence-based Policing - Essay Example

Running Head: EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING Evidence-based Policing Client’s School Affiliation Evidence-based policing operates within the principlethat scientific evidences can immensely assist the law enforcement team in improving police response and strategies given different circumstances by providing them great information that they can use as a reference to their future activities and programs. It is further defined by Lawrence W. Sherman, who proposed the concept of evidence-based policing in 1998, as “the use of the best available research on the outcomes of police work to implement guidelines and evaluate agencies, units, and officers” (Dempsey & Forst, 2011, p. 128). It offers a new approach to policing because it encourages the application of best practices from relevant literatures contrary to the traditional way of “just doing things the way they’ve always done it.

” Encouraging law enforcers to look at relevant researches and adapt any best practices that are specified in literatures is one of the advantages of evidence-based policing because it helps in structuring their thinking and approach to various situations. Another advantage of this concept is that it is created to further help reduce the crime rate in the country by adapting new tactics and police responses that are proven effective by previous researches. On the other hand, one essential disadvantage of evidence-based policing is that not all procedures, results, and recommendations from previous researches are always reliable.

Most of the time, adapting research procedures and policies may not be sufficient to address some situations, not to mention that not all law enforcers are knowledgeable, or trained, about proper implementation of these strategies. Evidence-based policing was, during the early 1990s, applied to resolving issues on domestic violence (Flynn, 2011). The traditional method of addressing this issue led to increasing cases of domestic violence. However, after using the concept of evidence-based law enforcers eventually realized their possible shortcoming in resolving domestic violence issue.

They changed their method of handling these kinds of disputes that later on resulted to a sharp decline in domestic violence cases. Another example is when this concept was used to resolve street-level narcotics issue (Flynn, 2011). The traditional method of seizing the culprits did not apparently suffice to resolve the problem. After applying the concept of evidence-based, most police jurisdictions modified their traditional way of handling this concern. Instead, they created and enforced comprehensive, centered, and community-engaging programs.

ReferencesDempsey, J.S. & Forst, L.S. (2011). Police. New York: Cengage Learning. Flynn, D. (2011). Evidence-based policing hall of fame. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from http://gemini.gmu.edu/cebcp/HallofFame/Flynn.html.