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

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 twenty-first 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…