Rather, research findings should be available in a more condense manner, with options for greater detail provided for later review. Annual or semiannual journals could be disseminated that contain the latest research findings. This would make the process of reading and keeping up-to-date with research findings easier to do in the actual field and can be logged for use later in the creation of more specific strategies.
Lum presents her idea that something as serious as policing must be tied to more reliable and valid measurements. Law enforcement is a very complex concept, and must be approached with the same scientific reasoning that other complex sciences must. This has led to many within the field to continue working on more evidence-based practices. Such methods have proven successful in strategies such as increasing citizen policing measures where residents are more supportive in law enforcement strategies. As such, Lum helps construct a viable matrix which helps place law enforcement research on a measurable platform that can be better utilized in practical applications.
Still, many forces within law enforcement have proven resistant to introductions of much more detailed practices based on data observations. Law enforcement has been one industry to resist change. Typically, it is not an industry that incorporates new innovations from other industries. Yet, recently law enforcement agencies have been structuring themselves on more empirical methods which rely on practical applications.
Compared to previous generations, there is much more research on specific tactic designs and how those designs have proved to be either successful or unsuccessful in their approach to targeting specific crimes. This has come about through a general trend that focuses on developing more tailored policing strategies based on evidence coming directly from the field. This is explained in the article by Cynthia Lum, where evidence-based policing is defined as using research findings to adopt new strategies in policing tactics.
Ted Gest's 2010 article clearly shows the disadvantages of the fractured law enforcement system...
One of the major elements Gest believes will help unify those divisions is a greater sense of coherence, where these vastly different law enforcement agencies still practice similar techniques and strategies that will help provide a more unified front.
Coherence can be achieved through agencies using new research as a foundation for future strategies. Obviously, the research that is most profound in the industry tends to have similar results based on field data. In an era where law enforcement is so fractured, evidence-based practices can help unify how law enforcement strategies are designed and executed in the field. Thus, the increased prominence of research can help establish a more coherent front that law enforcement agencies across the country can utilize to their advantage.
The book Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing: The Evidence provides a wealth of information and research on specific areas of policing in a modern world. It is a concise guide to the contemporary research being produced within the criminal justice field. Works like this one help compile recent research into a single format which can then be referred back to in the process of designing future policing strategies.
One of the most beneficial elements of this work is its devotion to examining and evaluating new innovations and how they have proven themselves in actual practice. The work describes a number of new innovations in law enforcement in dealing with more contemporary issues like terrorism. Problem-oriented strategies often focus on the use of new innovative strategies that derive directly from contemporary research conclusions. Evidence does determine practice.
Additionally, Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing does advocate appropriate evaluations of new, innovative strategies that may not have been exercised in the field prior to modern efforts. The work does suggest the use of third parties as a monitoring system for evaluative efforts. The book shows the increasing devotion to utilizing research findings as foundations for actual practice in an ever-evolving field.
