Practical Skills
Checklist for problem solving
This checklist is for police agencies and local partnerships to check that they are set up to deliver effective evidence-based practice. It is taken from the report Working out what to do: Evidence-based crime reduction by Nick Tilley and Gloria Laycock, published in January 2002 as Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 11.
It links to Table 11 from the same report which provides a checklist for police agencies and local partnerships to check that they are set up to deliver effective evidence based practice.
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Table 10: Checklist for police agencies and partnerships
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Key issues |
Dealt with? |
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Is there access to up-to-date research findings about crime and disorder problems? |
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Are personnel in post with knowledge of the established research literature about the nature of crime problems? Do they have the opportunity regularly to update their understanding? |
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Is there easy access to online sources of information about crime problems, such as that from the Home Office and NIJ? |
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Are crime and disorder relevant data collected, recorded, and stored in ways that facilitate their analysis for problem-solving and preventive purposes? Is flexible analytic software available to test hypotheses about patterns? Do staff have the skills to make best use of the data and analytic software? |
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Are personnel in post whose job it is to identify local, evidence-based crime and disorder patterns? |
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Do staff have a grasp of the research literature on crime and disorder change mechanisms, on the contexts in which they can be activated, and the means of activating them? |
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Do staff have a grasp of the research literature on the potential unintended consequences of crime and disorder change methods, and the contexts in which the are likely to be brought about? |
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Are staff encouraged to think laterally about ways of applying crime and disorder prevention principles in new situations? |
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Do staff have the ability, knowledge, and motivation to think critically about alternative intervention options? |
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Is there provision for identifying and applying levers to those whose behaviour needs to change if crime and disorder problems are to be addressed effectively? |
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Last update: 10/09/03