The current state of play: Awareness, understanding, acceptance, engagement and utilisation of evidence-based practice in UK policing.

Abstract

A concentrated attempt to professionalise UK policing commenced in 2011. A key element of the strategy adopted was an aim to make greater use of evidence-based practice (EBP) in policing. The establishment of the College of Policing in 2012 presented opportunities to embed EBP in UK policing. As part of the process, initial police training was restructured to ensure new recruits were degree educated on completion of training. Alongside the new training programme, academic research was made available to serving officers via the College of Policing to establish EBP as routine practice. The aim of this study was to examine how police utilise EBP and to answer the primary research question: ‘To what extent is evidence-based practice currently embedded in UK policing as part of the wider professionalisation process?’ The methodological approach to the research process was interpretivist and pragmatic. Mixed methods were employed, with a quantitative online questionnaire distributed nationally prior to qualitative case study fieldwork being conducted in three English police forces. Each case study focused on a different policing function (public order, response and neighbourhood). A total of 244 hours of observations took place in multiple settings across the chosen forces. Additionally, 28 hours of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 officers who worked in the respective case study functions. Key findings reveal that EBP is not currently embedded in UK policing as envisaged at the start of the professionalisation process. A lack of organisational capability to embed EBP operationally is evident. The study established a level of receptivity among officers to utilise EBP and a desire for appropriate training and development to support them. The research highlights how the College of Policing faces credibility issues, due in part to a reliance on police forces to effectively implement its EBP-related strategies. The findings identified how structural barriers have limited progress of the professionalisation process and consequently enabled well-documented aspects of police occupational culture to impact on attempts to embed EBP. The thesis complements existing research that examines the professionalisation agenda from a critical perspective. This study makes a unique contribution to policing literature on professionalisation, culture and EBP by providing empirical evidence from within operational policing in the midst of the professionalisation process.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Michael Alan Hope: orcid.org/0000-0002-9637-8432

ORCID for Jenny Fleming: orcid.org/0000-0002-7913-3345

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