Page 30 - 1Proactive Policing

Pro-Active Policing

 Calls of narcotic activity at an 80-unit apartment complex alerted officers to try a problem
solving approach. Working with residents, the on-site manager, the management

company, the Housing Commission, and other police units, the officers were able to evict
problem residents and stop the drug dealing.

Evidence-based policing:

Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) is an approach to policy making and tactical decision-making for

police departments. It is an extension of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based policy.
Advocates of evidence-based policing emphasize the value of statistical analysis, empirical

research and ideally randomized controlled trials. EBP does not dismiss more traditional drivers of
police decision-making, but seeks to raise awareness and increase the application of scientific
testing, targeting and tracking of police resources, especially during times of budget cuts and

greater public scrutiny.

The new paradigm of ―evidence-based medicine‖ holds important implications for policing. It

suggests that just doing research is not enough and that proactive efforts are required to push
accumulated research evidence into practice through national and community guidelines. These
guidelines can then focus in-house evaluations of what works best across agencies, units, victims,

and officers. Statistical adjustments for the risk factors shaping crime can provide fair
comparisons across police units, including national rankings of police agencies by their crime

prevention effectiveness.

Works of Center for Crime Reduction Toolkit:
Intervention:

 Alcohol ignition interlock  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
 Alcohol tax and price policies for Domestic Violence
 Alternative education programs  Correctional boot camps

 CCTV  Criminal sanctions to prevent
 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy domestic violence
 Drunk driving (DWI) courts

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