From the outside Looking in: A Researcher's View of Current Policing Practice in the Netherlands

Abstract

The paper examines how far policing practices in the Netherlands have adopted a structured analytic approach. Attention is paid to developments in community-oriented, prevention and problem-oriented approaches. The role that research has played in the past and should play in the future is discussed. It is argued that, although community policing is an accepted concept among many police officers, various problems have hindered the development of the approach and, in the main, projects do not meet very high methodological standards. Suggestions for well-designed evaluation studies as well as the development of new research instruments for use by the police are presented. Prevention projects are described as being well structured, theoretically based and carefully evaluated. They have, however, focused on a narrow range of offences (eg burglary and car theft) and need to be extended to other areas of crime. The adoption of a carefully structured and evaluated problem-oriented approach is currently being implemented in many Dutch police regions. Clear goals have been set and the progress that is being made is described. The role that researchers can play in furthering the adoption of such a structured approach is discussed, with particular emphasis being given to analytic techniques.