Why I created a free course on Evidence-Based Policing

Now, those who know what evidence-based policing is know that we should be doing it in every single police agency, department and service. We need to know what works and what doesn't.

There are several options of how to go about it:

1. You partner up with a university that works with you on putting a project together that evaluates / tests / pilots an alternative, new process to the one you are currently using. The upside to that is that you get highly qualified academics to apply their expertise to this particular project, they will perform good research and might publish the outcomes of the research in academic journals, giving your project great exposure and standing. The downside is that your academic partner will probably stop the collaboration once data collection has finished, there will be no-one left to oversee implementation and running of the new process and everyone's practices might just go back to normal. In short, unless someone internal takes real ownership of it, the advantages of the research are likely to be short-lived.

2. You select a few members of your police department to become qualified in a related field, for example you send them on a university course in policing, criminology, investigative psychology, or evidence-based policing. The upside is that they will gain knowledge, understanding and experience to carry out EBP within your organisation, which is just what you want. The downside is that these university courses take years to complete, they cost thousands, and if the person decides to leave your organisation, you have heavily invested in one person who takes all those expensive skills with them.

3. You educate a lot of your staff in basic evidence-based policing principles, and a smaller but still sizeable number in solid EBP skills with online courses designed specifically for that purpose. The upside is that you can upskill a larger number of your staff in a much shorter amount of time, for a fraction of the cost of even one university course. The downside is that you still have to make a small investment into these people and they might move on with their additional skills, but you spent a much smaller amount of time and money getting them there, so you can do that with more people.

I offer option 3. I do also recommend the other two options, but I appreciate that they might not be the best ones for a police department.

I have created an introductory course called 'How to do Evidence-Based Policing in 4 Steps' for all police practitioners to take. It's free. Start with that, get as many of your staff as you think might be suitable onto it, they get a certificate of completion at the end.

Then, see who might be a good candidate to become a fully-fledged EBP-implementer. Pre-register them on the comprehensive 'Evidence-Based Policing Implementer' course. That one is not free, but heavily discounted at the moment. It will equip learners with the skills they need to carry out EBP from within their force.

Upskill people who are already in your employment to be able to carry out EBP from within. This is sustainable and long-term.

See for yourself if these courses might be suitable to your police agency.

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