One of the key assumptions of the evidence-based policing movement is that police will be inclined to adopt a research-informed approach to policing practices if they access, read, and digest what they discover from the research evidence.1 Providing easy access to the research evidence is thus a fundamental starting point for widespread adoption of the evidence-based policing paradigm.2 To that end, herein is insight into six different open-access websites (see call-out box) that collectively offer police comprehensive information about what is known, globally, about the effectiveness of police practices.

The authors used a number of workshop forums to ask middle manager-level police officers to select different types of crime problems and assess the accessibility and usefulness of the six websites using predetermined criteria. Managers were asked to take 10 minutes to familiarize themselves with the websites and then answer questions about each site?s ease of navigation, access to ?plain English? summaries, links to the original research evidence, and relevance to policing policies and practices.