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Docs and Cops: Origins and Ongoing Challenges of Evidence-Based Policing

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Abstract

Question

What lessons can evidence-based policing draw from the three-decade history of evidence-based medicine?

Evidence

Ongoing research and practice in evidence-based medicine 1992–2021.

Findings

Evidence-based medicine has not met its goals due to the difficulty of behavior change, but changing financial incentives and information technology advances are beginning to have a significant impact.

Conclusion

Evidence-based policing may benefit from evidence-based medicine’s experiences with diffusion of innovation and changing inbred cultural practices.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the American Society for Evidence-Based Policing for organizing a panel on this topic at its 2021 annual meeting, which featured a discussion with Lawrence Sherman and Renee Mitchell. This paper is a revised version of the talk delivered at that session by the author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Quality Advisors LLC, Highland Park, Ill., USA and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill, USA

    Michael L. Millenson

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  1. Michael L. Millenson
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Correspondence to Michael L. Millenson.

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Millenson, M.L. Docs and Cops: Origins and Ongoing Challenges of Evidence-Based Policing. Camb J Evid Based Polic 5, 146–155 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41887-021-00069-0

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