"Improving Police Practice Through Research." International Annals of
Criminology, 2003, 41 (No. 1-2), 167-175.
In 2000, the National Research Council (the social science arm of the National Academy of Sciences)
convened a special committee of academic experts to review the status of research on policing. Sponsored
by the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the committee
was to make recommendations concerning research priorities in the field of policy and when the evidence
was clear recommendations for practitioners concerning police ‘best practices.' The ‘raw material' with
which the committee worked was the body of published, peer-reviewed research that has accumulated
since the 1950s when modern police research was born. The findings of studies employing more rigorous
methodologies were given the most weight, and all had to pass muster as ‘social science.' That is, they
had to be empirical, conducted in rigorous fashion, and of a seemingly generalizable nature. In the main,
the panel focused on research on policing in North America, although it was open to specific findings that
were clearly relevant for the American scene. This article provides a personal interpretation of the most
important of the panel's recommendations for police practice. It describes the panel's focus on what the
report dubs the ‘dual mandate' of the police: to control crime while acting in a consistently lawful manner. It
then traces the recommendations of the panel that speak most centrally to those concerns. The full report,
titled Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing. It can be reviewed on the National Research Council's
publication website (www.nap.edu) and it is available for purchase at the same web site.
Criminology, 2003, 41 (No. 1-2), 167-175.
In 2000, the National Research Council (the social science arm of the National Academy of Sciences)
convened a special committee of academic experts to review the status of research on policing. Sponsored
by the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the committee
was to make recommendations concerning research priorities in the field of policy and when the evidence
was clear recommendations for practitioners concerning police ‘best practices.' The ‘raw material' with
which the committee worked was the body of published, peer-reviewed research that has accumulated
since the 1950s when modern police research was born. The findings of studies employing more rigorous
methodologies were given the most weight, and all had to pass muster as ‘social science.' That is, they
had to be empirical, conducted in rigorous fashion, and of a seemingly generalizable nature. In the main,
the panel focused on research on policing in North America, although it was open to specific findings that
were clearly relevant for the American scene. This article provides a personal interpretation of the most
important of the panel's recommendations for police practice. It describes the panel's focus on what the
report dubs the ‘dual mandate' of the police: to control crime while acting in a consistently lawful manner. It
then traces the recommendations of the panel that speak most centrally to those concerns. The full report,
titled Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing. It can be reviewed on the National Research Council's
publication website (www.nap.edu) and it is available for purchase at the same web site.
Policing Abstracts
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