Policing with science: a new evidence-based professionalism for policing?

Abstract

The advancement of policing by using scientific methods has been a central interest for CEPOL (European Police College) for a number of years. Quite early in its life, CEPOL commissioned a group of European police officers and academics to explore the potential for a European approach to police science.
The author of this contribution states that a more scientific approach to policing is central to building and sustaining police legitimacy in the future. Police legitimacy may be established not just on the basis of effectiveness under the rule of law, but on a demonstrated mastery of a complex body of knowledge generated by scientific methods of testing and analysis.
This article will explore both why this is an opportune moment for such a change, how the police should seize the opportunity and what a more scientific approach might look like. It will conclude with some reflections on the implications for police education and for pan-European institutions such as CEPOL.