EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 1
Evidence-based Policing
Elliott J. Clemente
The Helms School of Government, Liberty University
CJUS750
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Email:
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 2
Abstract
Any act or deviation from the established social norms by an individual has been around
since man has lived in social groups or a communal setting. These groupings were for both
shared protection and socialization, which allowed for advancing the human condition.
Individuals exchange personal freedoms for the group’s protection and ease of life. In tribal
societies, towns, and societies, a code of conduct modifies behaviors to comply with social
norms. As the population grew, sections of towns and cities became the breeding ground for
crime. Many either participated or, for life circumstances, resided in areas where individual(s)
commonly violated laws. Over the decades, the trend of areas defined by high crime levels has
continued. As society entered the 21st century, new technological advances allowed law
enforcement to predict crime (s) with some accuracy of crime (s) in the targeted areas. This
focused strategy would come to be known as hot spot policing or the statistics representation of
Computer Comparison Statistics (COMPSTAT). This research investigates the connection
between impoverished areas in impoverished transit areas and high crime rates. This study will
analyze using a cross-sectional methodology of incidents of criminality between 2000-2022 and
quantify outcomes against similar studies. This study will provide results regarding correlations
between proximity to criminality and the presence of law enforcement. Further studies are
required to establish a causal relationship and develop effective countermeasures.
Keywords: COMPSTAT, evidence-based policing, Community-Oriented Policing,
Problem-oriented policing, Evidence-based policing
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 3
Crime
The phenomenon of crime is an undeniable part of life in an organized society where
individual(s) intentionally or unintentionally violate a moral or societal tenet. Violations of such
societal decrees have mandated communities to implement behavioral modifications or
guidelines for the expected conduct of individuals living within a group(s). Many define crime as
an act committed in violation of a law prohibiting it or omitted in violation of a law ordering it
(Jones & Johnstone, 2011). Most often, group thought can change the behavioral patterns of
people’s desire to violate the established rules for their advantage. People naturally pursue their
interests without caring whether they hurt anyone else. This situation leads to a war of each
against all in which no one is safe because all people look out for themselves (Snipes et al.,
2019). As Thomas Hobbs (1566-1678) indicated, the social contract argued that most individuals
understood that allowing people to indulge in self-preservation to create an advantage for
themselves at the cost of the many would be unsuitable for the collective masses.
Individuals exchange personal freedoms for the group’s protection and ease of life. These
ideas remain as the fundamental tenet of modern society. However, several factors have
developed throughout the centuries that serve as the groundwork for increasing criminality
within towns, cities, and states. In this context, crimes most often occur in pockets or zones in
which areas are affected by economic disfranchisement and limited resources. These zones are
historically overrun with crime, trapping their residents in a perpetual cycle of crime and
poverty.
Local law enforcement officials have been shut out of the communities requiring the
most assistance. Its residents often restrict law enforcement from assisting these communities for
various reasons. Police leadership has found that many attempts to control and reduce the crime
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 4
rate have met with a veil of secrecy from distrusted communities. The police administration has
found allocating resources, including patrols, to these areas challenging. Small zones or hot spots
tend to generate many crimes.
Community-Oriented Policing
Community-oriented policing (COP) is a philosophy of policing that emphasizes
community involvement in crime prevention efforts, in contrast to the focus of traditional
policing on law enforcement and order maintenance (Gill et al., 2014). Multiple studies
conducted have shown that Community-oriented policing (COP) has limitations in the
effectiveness of the reduction of crime. However, it has displayed other benefits, including
increased satisfaction among citizens and improved trust in law enforcement. The Community-
oriented policing (COP) program has seen several challenges, including but limited to the overly
broad definition that has affected the program’s framework. Some challenges affecting the
program include the dissimilar approaches to accomplishing their goals. Another challenge the
programs faced was the lack of a clear and logical model or framework.
Community-oriented policing (COP) has established structural issues that require
redressing to ensure the program’s success. One such issue is the traditional paramilitary
hierarchical (chain of command) structure of the police departments. The informal reorganization
of departments can provide the front officer(s) on the ground situational representation (SITREP)
the ability to make tactical and strategic decisions when interacting with the community. The
program, like many other community-based programs, is multifaceted. So, improving
community relations is just one aspect of the primary function. The primary function is allowing
the community to lead in solving issues affecting their community. COP is not simply about
improving relationships between police and citizens. It is also a problem-solving process that
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 5
draws upon citizens’ expertise in identifying and understanding the social issues that create
crime, disorder, and fear (Gill et al., 2014). The establishment of programs like community
policing has increased the interest in officers working with communities to manage and help
resolve some of the problems faced by its residents. Community policing may have raised the
inclination of most officers to work closely with community members to solve crimes and
support prosecutions. However, variation across officers is likely to have persisted in policing, as
in other occupations (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011).
Problem-oriented policing
Community-oriented policing is a generic term for a broad, heterogeneous set of policing
strategies and programs. Various names have been used, such as problem-oriented policing,
community-based policing, neighborhood policing, and service-style policing (Kerley & Benson,
2000). Regardless of the name, the primary focus is creating a community and law enforcement
partnership. The program’s genesis is the understanding by both parties that law enforcement
depends on community residents to play a proactive role in reporting crime and resolving
community issues. Standard policing techniques and strategies focused on controlling crime
through punishment. This style was evident from the 1970s through the 1990s, during the height
of the crack epidemic. During this period in American history, marginalized populations were
often the target of unbalanced police crackdowns that did little to control crime; however, they
produced an increase in community disorder while producing institutional violence and systemic
discrimination on behalf of the local police departments.
Minority residents who resided in urban settings felt incredibly alienated from their lack
of positive police interactions. The lack of police presence left the residents angry and frustrated
with the lack of police involvement in their neighborhoods, leaving them at the mercy of
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 6
criminal elements that overwhelmed their localities. For many, the only time they interacted with
police officers was when they arrived during an emergency. The pervasive attitude shared among
the minority groups, the police were more of an occupying force than one there to serve and
protect. The change in policing philosophy prevalent at the end of the last century and continued
into the new one went a long way in attempting to reinvent the nationwide police image.
Many in academia believe that Police Oriented Police is a more effective way to deal
with the issue of crime in an urban setting. Early returns on the research conducted were
inconclusive on the effectiveness of Police Oriented Police in reducing major violent crimes. The
collected data points indicated the examination involving the effectiveness of such tactics as
increased patrols. Later studies have indicated a reduction in violent crime. Some recent
programs have shown success in reducing violent crime. A 2013 agency-wide overhaul in
Camden, NJ, reduced violent crime in 2015 by 24% and homicides by 47% (Diehr & McDaniel,
2018).
Researchers have found that problem-policing (POP) effectively controls property crimes
and disorderly activity, such as residential burglaries in a privately owned low-income housing
complex, street-corner drug selling, and prostitution (Braga et al., 1999). Documented analysis
has shown attempts to explain the causes of criminality within clustered areas and how to reduce
or improve crime rates. Such aspects can assist in reducing crime by implementing or modifying
simple physical attributes like replacing a light bulb on a street.
Evidence-Based Policing
Evidence-based policing is a method of deciding what works: which practices and
strategies accomplish police missions most cost-effectively. In contrast to basing decisions on
theory, assumptions, and tradition (Sherman, 2013). Policing as a profession has expanded to
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 7
incorporate technological advances in the latter part of the 20th century. The early part of the 21st
century provided police departments with the nexus of technology with criminal justice theory.
Before the turn of the 20th century, evidence-based policing saw the interjection of new
theoretical ideology and how to use the new policing modality of Evidence-Based Policing
(EBP) to improve policing. Scholars argue that policing requires scientific scrutiny based on
rigorous fact-based methodologies. Using research evidence to inform policing policy and
practice is seen as increasingly crucial at a strategic and operational level. Strategically evidence-
based approaches are necessary in political, economic, and social terms (Fyfe et al., 2017).
The concept behind the evidence-based movement finding its foundation is that of hard
quantifiable facts and not on assumptions that may or may not prove accurate. The system
demands the initiation of pragmatic constructed assessments for conventional strategies and
practices. For example, make babies lie on their sides or stomachs by looking for hard evidence
about its actual effects rather than its assumed effects. Far fewer cot deaths occur when babies
are put on their backs (Bullock & Tilley, 2009).
Evidence-based targeting requires systematic ranking and comparison of levels of harm
associated with various places, times, people, and situations that policing can lawfully address
(Sherman, 2013). Like most logistics companies, the Global Positioning System (GPS). In
records in both instances, the administration helps ensure that police officers neither increase nor
waste taxpayer funding.
During the 1970s, they were policing nationwide and operated traditional cookie-cutter.
Up to that point, all investigations have been conducted in the same standard manner regardless
of the severity of the crime or the number of individuals involved. The idea behind evidence-
based policing emphasizes that law enforcement should at least be held accountable for the
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 8
knowledge already known about policing interventions and crime analysis generated in their
jurisdictions (Lum & Koper, 2015). This approach allows local law enforcement agencies to
understand better the multitudes of variables or data points that lead to increased and decreased
criminalities within the targeted locations. The system also improves other factors that directly
affect managerial accountability and efficiency. Better-quality documenting data accuracy, the
collection and examination, persuading the significant use of information technology systems
that can help shape requirements.
Other programs, either currently in use or under consideration by policing decision-
makers, include Community-oriented policing, problem-oriented policing, and professionalism,
which could be strengthened through the inclusion and use of scientific information analysis
(Lum & Koper, 2015). These sub-categories emphasize the use of a partnership between the
local communities and the law enforcement agencies as a force multiplier. They are using the
influence of the community to assist in coordinating and enforcing city ordinances and state and
federal laws while allowing its people to self-govern. Under the Rational Choice theory,
academics have focused on how the community enforces external controls. Sociologists have
identified conformity in its members: internal control, whereby individuals inculcated with
conventional norms, values, and attitudes, and external control, individuals are coerced,
threatened, and sanctioned into conformity (Piliavin et al., 1986).
Hot Spot Policing
Following crime trends is not new in criminal justice and community policing systems.
Police officers often use their experience, interaction, and influence in the area to know where
the crime rate is at its greatest. They used informants to provide information on the categories of
crimes and the time when these individuals committed this violation of laws. The advent of
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 9
modernization involving information technology has allowed for such tools to be used in the
charting of crimes by police organizations or bureaus over topographical sites.
The mapping of crimes is a concept that has allowed law enforcement at all levels to
represent crimes visually and analyze patterns that usually affect areas unevenly and often
correspond with socioeconomic, gender, and racial lines. Monitoring all categories of crimes
focused on pockets is colloquially termed Hot Spots. These pockets or hot spots require a higher
level of attention from law enforcement with the primary goal of decreasing the crime rate in the
area. A growing body of research has indicated that these pockets or hot spots contribute to many
crimes within targeted areas. The studies concluded that within these clusters, there are more
deviant places.
Hot Spot policing is a place-based strategy that reduces crime by assigning limited police
resources to places where crimes are more highly concentrated (Lazzati et al., 2016). The
approach has become prevalent among departments or agencies with many sworn law
enforcement officers. A recent Police Foundation found that 7 in 10 departments with more than
100 sworn officers reported using crime mapping to identify crime spots (Braga et al., 2012).
Numerous departments around the country utilize such technology applications as Comstat,
which hold officers at all levels responsible for employing problem-solving tactics to decrease
crime in hot spots or deviant locations. Unlike most policing strategies, which have increased
operational and management efficiency, hot spots policing can be traced directly to an emerging
theoretical perspective in criminology that suggests the importance of places in understanding
Crime (Braga et al., 2012).
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 10
Conclusion
Evidence-based policing is a strategy of scientific, evaluation, and analysis processes to
assist decision-makers within police leadership reach the best outcomes. The research can relate
to a wide range of policing activities and functions, from evaluating specific policing
interventions to tackle crime and enhance well-being to broad assessments of the management
and governance of policing (Fyfe, 2017). Data has shown that in a growing number of cases, the
programs and the tactics employed are becoming more effective in reducing crime. The
deployment of community policing using scientific applications has shown a human dividend
where data has indicated that extra monitoring was required, and the residents understood the
interaction as they were there to protect them and occupy the neighborhood.
Evidence-based policing philosophy has been the driving force behind the current attempt
to utilize alternative methods to address the issue of crime and criminality, especially in areas
deemed as deviant. These hot spots are responsible for the uneven distribution of crime in the
sub-pockets. As scientific technologies have seen an increase in usage of the phenomenon of
crime, law enforcement agencies and departments have used computer applications like
COMSTAT, which provide them with statistical information for the tracking of crime trends,
which allows for the allocation of resources, including officers and associated support. Hotspot
policing has allowed interested officers to work closely with affected communities. This
collaboration between local law enforcement and the community allows the residents who
understand the area and its people to address the issues most affected by them.
Christian Worldview
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 11
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the afflicted and the
destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hands of the wicked (English
Standard Version, Psalms 82:3-4).
References
Braga, A. A, Papachristos, A., & Hureau, D. (2012). Hot spot policing affects crime.
Campbell Systematic Reviews 2012:8
http://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2012.8
Braga, A. A., Weisburd, D. L., Waring, E., J., Green-Mazzerolle, L., Spellman, W., & Gajewski,
F. (1999). Problem-Oriented Policing in Violent Crime Places: A Randomized Controlled
Experiment.
Criminology, 37(3). 541-580.
Bullock, K., & Tilley, N. (2009). Evidence-based policing and crime reduction.
Policing:
A journal of policy and practice,3(4),381-387.
Diehr, A. j., & McDaniel, J. T. (2018). The lack of community-oriented policing practices
partially mediates the relationship between racial residential segregation and black-on-
black homicide rates.
Preventive medicine, 112, 179-184
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.04.032
Fyfe, N. R. (2017). Evidence-based
Policing, 2026, 9-20.
Gill, C., Weisburd, D., Telp, C. W., Vitter, Z., & Bennett, T. (2014). Community-oriented
policing to reduce crime, disorder, and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy
among citizens: a systematic review.
Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10, pp. 399-428
http://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-014-9210-y
Jones, M, & Johnstone, P (2011). History of Criminal Justice. (5th Ed.).
Routledge.
Kerley, K. R., & Benson, M. L. (2000). Does Community-Oriented Policing Help Build Stronger
Community?
Police Quarterly, 3(1), 46-69.
Lazzati, N, & Menichini, A. A. (2016). Hot Spot Policing: A Study of Place-Based Strategies for
Crime Prevention.
Southern Economic Journal 2016, 82(3), 893-913
https://doi.org/101002/soej.12112
Lum, C., & Koper, C. S. (2015). Evidence-based policing.
Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, 260-274.
Piliavin, I., Gartner, R., Thornton, C., & Matsueda, R. L. (1986). Crime, Deterrence, and
Rational Choice.
American Sociological Review, 101-119
Sherman, L. W. (2013). The Rise of Evidence-Based Policing: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking.
Crime and Justice, 42(1), 377-451
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING 12
Snipes, J. B., Bernard, T. J., & Gerould, A. L. (2019). Vold’s Theoretical Criminology. (8th Ed).
Oxford University Press
The English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Crossway.
Wilson, J. Q., & Petersilia, J. (Eds). (2011). Crime and Public Policy
Oxford University Press
