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8 - The Role of Randomized Experiments in Developing the Evidence for Evidence-Based Policing

from Part III - Innovations in Tools of Evaluation and Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2023

By
Lorraine Mazerolle ,
Elizabeth Eggins ,
Lorelei Hine  and
Angela Higginson
Edited by
David Weisburd ,
Tal Jonathan-Zamir ,
Gali Perry  and
Badi Hasisi
David Weisburd
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and George Mason University, Virginia
Tal Jonathan-Zamir
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Gali Perry
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Badi Hasisi
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Summary

Randomized experiments, quasi-experiments and systematic reviews are critical for developing the evidence for evidence-based policing. In this paper, we explore the role of experiments in contributing to the evidence base in policing. Drawing on the Global Policing Database (GPD) corpus of 3,487 high quality evaluation studies in policing, including 431 randomized controlled trials, we describe the breadth and depth of the evidence base in policing. We find that randomized controlled trials form only about 12 percent of the total evidence based in policing, yet this small number of trials has had enormous policy influence over the last fifty years. We also find that most of the evidence in policing is around frontline policing practices and about half of the RCTs in the world come from the US: a greater proportion of RCTs coming from outside of the US than previously reported. We conclude that the breadth of people and places generating high quality evidence will help generalize policing policies and practices beyond the US and is likely to have a snowball effect in fostering the next generation of experimentalists in policing.

Keywords

Global Policing Database (GPD)Systematic reviewsRandomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)Quasi-experimentsCampbell CollaborationInvestigative techniquesPolice technologiesFrontline policing practicesPartnership policingPolice organizations
Type
Chapter
Information
The Future of Evidence-Based Policing , pp. 147 - 169
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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