The term “evidence-based policing” shouldn’t be new to anyone reading this, but even with the advancements made in policing, the profession has a long way to go when it comes to using evidence to drive the “treatments” used to combat crime—and to use this approach to guide organizational culture.

Throughout my career, I have seen police use evidence-based strategies as another thing to address crime problems instead of making it the way we do it. Evidence-based intervention is often short-lived, under-resourced, and abandoned if there isn’t an immediate result in crime reduction. This approach, however, hinders the effectiveness of police efforts to reduce crime, improve organizational culture, address community-focused problems, implement thoughtful police reforms, and strengthen relations with the community, especially black and brown communities. So where can police agencies turn to improve?