Evidence-based policing: from effectiveness to cost-effectiveness

Recent years have seen the development of quantitative studies into policing effectiveness, in particular, the ‘evidence based policing’ movement which has encouraged the use of randomized control trials in the UK and the USA. Despite their significance, such studies remain narrowly based in terms of their take-up by academic institutions and police forces.
This article charts the rise of evidence-based policing and considers whether it could be taken a step further, by developing consideration of police effectiveness into that of cost-effectiveness. The use of ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years’ (QALY) methodology in the UK in the arena of drugs approval for use by the National Health Service, is considered as a model which might be transferable to policing. It is concluded that there are substantial similarities. Providing that the improvements sought are realistic, there is real potential for the cost-effectiveness of policing methods to be assessed.