ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Evidence-based policing (EBP) initiatives are collectively situated to dislodge the police's historical sole reliance on craft to guide policing practice. It focuses on the genesis of the Global Policing Database (GPD), a tool that aims to provide the broadest range of robust evaluation evidence for police and policing. The chapter provides an overview of the GPD and describes the search methodology that was used to populate it and provides an analysis of the studies that were both included and excluded from the GPD beta version. The worldwide diffusion and upward innovation trajectory of the EBP movement offer an opportunity to consider the shift from the craft to science approach to policing through the lens of a disruptive innovation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the GPD and other similar online tools are potential game-changers, enabling the EBP movement to become the dominant, mainstream approach to policing.
