Police Leadership in Fostering Evidence-Based Agency Reform

Leading an evidence-based police agency is easier said than done. In policing, the rhetoric of being evidence-based far outstrips the reality. In this article, we examine the role of police leaders in fostering evidence-based agency reform, focusing on six broad themes. First, police leaders need to address the paucity of research in the current evidence base of policing, putting strategic plans in place to fast track the production of policing evidence. Secondly, leaders in policing need to allocate up to 10% of their discretionary budgets to support regular, in-house evaluations of a broad range of police practices. Thirdly, police leaders need to take responsibility for training and inculcating the next generation of their staff to better understand the police evidence base and run their own, in-house experimental evaluations as a matter of routine policy. Fourthly, police leaders of the future need to explicitly engage ministers and government representatives in evidence-based conversations about resource allocation decisions, drawing on evaluation science to support policy decisions. Fifthly, police leaders need the courage to mothball age-old police practices that do not work (or harm). Sixthly, we argue that police leaders need to foster a sophisticated public that demands evidence-based practice. Our article examines a range of processes to help police leaders advance this reform agenda, highlighting the establishment of the Society of Evidence Based Policing (SEBP) as an enabling platform.