Evidence based policing (EBP) initiatives
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/26/009694/M
Version Date: 10/04/2026
The Prevention Department, the Alliance Resourcing & Development Department and the Performance & Analysis Department have provided the following information:
Please could you provide the following:
1. Does the force have a formal process, system, or standardised format for internally sharing examples of evidence based policing (EBP) initiatives?
o This may include internal repositories, templates, portals, knowledge sharing platforms, case study formats, newsletters, or any other documented method used to disseminate EBP learning within the organisation.
We have an EBP Board chaired by our own Chair of the South West Evidence Based Policing Network. The Board is comprised of EBP champions across various internal departments as well as some key external stakeholders from our academic partners.
In terms of sharing EBP initiatives (to the academically recognised standard of EBP practice), we rely quite heavily on (and signpost people to) external libraries, such as the College of Policing (CoP) Practice Bank, CoP What Works Centre, CoP Going Equipped magazine, Society of Evidence-Based Policing, etc.
University of South Wales have run 2 EBP sharing days internally (one in 2025 and one in January 2026).
Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship Year 3 Dissertation Library (Evidence-Based Research Projects) – created by the Resourcing & Development Department.
Performance & Analysis ‘Positive Practice Register’ hosted on our internal SharePoint.
‘Problem Solving Best Practice Portal’ created by our Problem Solving Team and hosted on our internal SharePoint.
Evidence Based Policing Hub on SharePoint was created to host guidance, tips, videos, useful external links related to conducting or finding EBP research and practice.
EBP champions network for Research Ideas.
We also had an Exeter University Embedded Research Fellow who did a lot of work on EBP guidance, repositories, and evaluation templates from 2017 to 2022.
- If such a format or system exists, in which year was it first introduced?
EBP Board created in 2017 and at some point in time this paused, and was re-established in 2024.
Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship Year 3 Dissertation Library has been in place since 2022.
EBP SharePoint site was created in 2024.
EBP champions network was created in 2025 on Microsoft Forms.
The Problem Solving Best Practice Portal has been initiated, paused, changed and re-started under a number of guises since 2018.
Positive Practice Register went live in July 2024.
- For each calendar year since its introduction, how many new entries, examples, case studies, or submissions have been added to this format/system?
Positive practice portal entries:
- 2024 = 20
- 2025 = 18
- 2026 = 2
EBP Champions Network:
To date we have had 27 responses submitted to the MS Form. All submitted between Sept-Dec 2025, no new entries since.
Problem Solving Best Practice Portal:
142 items in total. Please note that no information is held for the yearly breakdown and that this figure may not be accurate as some items may relate to the same problem-solving plan.
Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship Dissertations:
- 2022 – 35
- 2023 – 76
- 2024- 67
- 2025 – 110
- 2026 (as at 09/04/2026) – 66