Analysing Treatment Integrity in Police Involved Randomized Controlled Trials: Drawing Lessons for Evidence-Based Policing

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy I

Abstract

Evidence-based policing (EBP) has emerged as a key strand of police innovation since Sherman’s (1998) Police Foundation lecture. A central feature of Sherman’s 1998 vision of EBP was the importance attached to the testing of key tactics and strategies by randomised controlled trials. RCTs are controversial with some scholars who argue that policing is not comparable to medicine and that RCTs are unable to reflect the complexity of the police role and context. Even those who advocate the use of RCTs recognise that there are significant challenges in achieving the high dosage and high fidelity that a successful experiment requires. This paper reports an analysis of the treatment integrity in 122 police involved RCTs, which were completed and reported between 1970 and 2015. Drawing on the assessment of the attrition and treatment delivery in the studies, the paper suggests that there are important lessons for the conduct and management and reporting of police RCTs, which have become more pressing as more practitioners and professional bodies engage in the research process. There are also implications for systematic reviews of policing interventions, which draw heavily on RCTs for their conclusions.

Author

• Peter Neyroud, Cambridge University