The road to evidence-based policing (EBP) is often difficult, and the Israeli experience has been no different. To overcome barriers and more effectively facilitate and ensure translation of research into practice, Sherman (1998) suggested the role of the “evidence cop.” The evidence cop, whether a sworn officer or an outside academic, is assigned responsibility for overseeing the implementation of EBP. Success in achieving the ambitious objectives of EBP is likely to vary considerably due to the likelihood that the officers will be perceived with suspicion, undermining their authority. Our analysis takes a historical perspective, focusing on two distinct attempts at strategic reform in the Israel Police (IP). The first took place in the mid-1990s under Commissioner Hefetz, while the first author was a senior figure in the IP and benefits from first-hand knowledge of the attempt to integrate EBP. The second attempt took place in the recent years under Commissioner Alsheich. The reason Alsheich was able to achieve considerable success in his substantial EBP reform in the police force, while Hefetz and many commissioners around the world were less successful, lies, in our opinion, in the fact that Alsheich himself was the “evidence cop”, leading the process as a “super evidence cop.”

Evidence based policing has become a key perspective for practitioners and researchers concerned with the future of policing. This book provides both a review of where we stand today with evidence based policing, and consideration of emerging trends and ideas likely to be important in the future of evidence based policing. It includes comparative and international contributions, as well as researcher and practitioner perspectives. While emphasizing traditional evidence based methods and approaches, the book also identifies barriers to the advancement of evidence based policing. It also expands the vision of evidence based policing by critically examining ethical and moral concerns and questions. The book’s main focus is not on what has to happen in police agencies to advance EBP, but rather on an issue that has received far less attention - the science that is necessary to produce for EBP to be successfully integrated into policing.

Since the late 1990s, many scholars, policymakers and others have encouraged policing to adopt evidence-based approaches much in the way the medical profession had adopted science-based evidence years before. Using Sherman’s “national forces” notion, we review the role that national organizations and entities have played in encouraging or discouraging the adoption of evidence-based policing in the United States’ highly decentralized policing context of 18,000 independent agencies. While there have been key organizations and peak periods of support of evidence-based policing, there are still many barriers to the adoption of this idea, including misunderstanding and lack of clarity about what evidence-based policing is; political concerns and/or interference, and generally a lack of will; the diverse policing landscape in the United States; and lack of a clear application model for basic policing decisions. In response, we propose the development of a Professional Policing Doctrine that “infuses” Sherman’s concepts of the Triple T strategy and the Cambridge Assignment Management System with concepts promoted by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and a Hippocratic Oath for policing. Additional recommendations are provided for supporting the integration of evidence-based policing and for confronting some of the challenges standing in the way of this goal.