653F Fall 2025 Evidenced Based Policing

Evidence-based policing is a modern policing approach that advocates for the use of the best available science, research, analysis, and information to make informed decisions about how to best improve public safety and trust and confidence of community members. This model stresses allocating resources more efficiently and effectively by ensuring that activities that the police engage in are actually linked to the public safety and police legitimacy outcomes. In this class, the instructor and her colleagues will share several ongoing evidence-based policing projects that they and the Center for Evidenced- Based Crime Policy at George Mason University are engaged in related to police efforts to reduce crime and improve community satisfaction with their services, respond to those in mental health crisis, use technology, and improve officer recruitment, development, and retention.

Cynthia Lum, PhD, is Distinguished University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society and director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University. She is one of the nation’s foremost experts in evidence-based policing and a former officer and detective from Baltimore City.