Undertaking a randomised controlled trial in the police setting: methodological and practical challenges

摘要

BackgroundThere has been an increased drive towards Evidence Based Policing in recent years. Unlike in other public sector services, such as health and education, randomised controlled trials in the police setting are relatively rare. This paper discusses some of the methodological and practical challenges of conducting a randomised controlled trial in the police setting in the UK, based on our experience of the Connect trial. This pragmatic, cluster-randomised controlled trial investigated the effectiveness of a face-to-face training intervention for frontline officers in comparison to routine training. The primary outcome was the number of incidents which resulted in a police response reported to North Yorkshire Police control room in a 1-month period up to 6 months after delivery of training.