Evidence-Based Policing Training Course

Participants can interpret common research designs and judge the strength of causal claims.

• Distinguishing descriptive, correlational, quasi-experimental and randomised controlled study designs
• Internal validity threats: selection, maturation, history, regression and attrition
• Reading confidence intervals, effect sizes, p-values and statistical power
• Correlation, causation and confounding in recorded crime and victimisation data
• Assessing external validity before transferring findings between places and populations
• Using logic models to state mechanisms, outputs and intended outcomes

Participants can locate relevant evidence and prepare concise, defensible evidence briefings.

• Formulating searchable questions with the PICO structure and operational definitions
• Searching systematic reviews, Campbell Collaboration resources and policing evidence repositories
• Appraising systematic reviews for scope, study quality and heterogeneity
• EMMIE framework: effect, mechanism, moderators, implementation and economic considerations
• Separating intervention effects from implementation conditions and contextual moderators
• Creating an evidence briefing with sources, limitations and recommendation strength

Participants can analyse local policing data to identify priority harms, patterns and affected populations.

• Auditing incident, calls-for-service, victimisation and officer activity data quality
• Applying the problem-analysis triangle to victims, offenders and locations
• Hot spot mapping using repeat incidents, crime concentration and temporal patterns
• Crime Harm Index calculations to prioritise harm rather than volume
• Disaggregating outcomes by place, victim group, offence type and time
• Protecting privacy, retention and access controls for operational data

Participants can define recurring policing problems and identify their underlying contributing conditions.

• Scanning recurring demand through SARA: scanning, analysis, response and assessment
• Problem statements specifying harm, population, location, time and contributing conditions
• Root-cause analysis with five whys, fishbone diagrams and situational factors
• Crime scripts identifying stages, facilitators and intervention opportunities
• Selecting measurable objectives that distinguish outputs, outcomes and unintended effects
• Building a problem profile from quantitative findings and frontline insight

Participants can select proportionate interventions matched to diagnosed mechanisms and local conditions.

• Situational crime prevention techniques: increase effort, increase risks, reduce rewards
• Choosing focused deterrence components: selection, communication, services and enforcement
• Hot spots policing dosage, patrol styles and procedural justice safeguards
• Problem-oriented policing responses matched to diagnosed opportunity structures
• Comparing enforcement, prevention, partnership and environmental design response options
• Writing a theory of change linking activities to measurable mechanisms

Participants can assess legitimacy, human-rights and equity implications before intervention deployment.

• Procedural justice principles: voice, neutrality, respect and trustworthy motives
• Testing disparate impacts across protected groups, neighbourhoods and offence categories
• Legitimacy risks from stop, search, surveillance and targeted enforcement
• Human rights proportionality, necessity and least-intrusive intervention tests
• Community intelligence assessed alongside representativeness, bias and safeguarding concerns
• Recording ethical decisions, dissent and mitigation measures in intervention governance

Participants can design feasible evaluations that measure delivery, outcomes, impact and cost.

• Evaluation questions aligned with the intervention logic model and decision needs
• Selecting process, outcome, impact and cost measures before deployment
• Pre-post designs, comparison groups and interrupted time-series evaluation options
• Randomised controlled trials: assignment, treatment fidelity and contamination controls
• Difference-in-differences estimates for treated and comparison locations over time
• Measurement plans covering baselines, data sources, collection frequency and ownership

Participants can plan implementation, assign accountability and monitor intervention delivery consistently.

• Implementation science concepts: fidelity, adaptation, reach, dose and sustainability
• Readiness assessment covering leadership, skills, data, partnerships and resources
• Stakeholder mapping for command staff, analysts, frontline officers and communities
• RACI matrix assigning intervention decisions, delivery tasks and evaluation responsibilities
• Briefing supervisors on problem definitions, decision rules and feedback loops
• Monitoring dashboards separating delivery activity, outcomes, equity and unintended consequences

Participants can communicate evidence clearly and prepare a structured application plan for their service.

• Writing decision-ready evidence summaries with claim, source, caveat and recommendation
• Translating effect sizes into operational implications without overstating certainty
• Structured analytic techniques to challenge assumptions and competing explanations
• Communicating null findings, uncertainty and unintended effects to senior leaders
• Evidence register recording decisions, rationale, sources, review dates and owners
• 90-day application plan for a priority policing problem and evaluation