ABSTRACT
This chapter is framed by the ironic tension underpinning how evidence-based policing has emerged as a powerful motif for police reform during a historical moment that some have defined as ‘a post factual age’. Set against this backdrop, the discussion explores two ‘master types’ of evidence-based policing, and explores the limits and constraints of their influence upon police improvement processes, especially in light of the particular challenges involved in policing ‘wicked problems’. These are illuminated through the introduction of empirical case studies of the policing of child sexual abuse and counter-terrorism. The chapter concludes by accenting the importance of avoiding ‘magical thinking’ in the stories that we tell about how and why police reform actually happens.
