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Police Research and Practice: An American Perspective

Until recently, American police practitioners have eschewed making use of research findings that come from the world of academia largely due to the sub-culturally supported understanding that they were 'too theoretical' and not grounded in the 'real world.' This dynamic has changed rapidly in the past 20 years, and the marriage between researcher and practitioner has been the impetus for the creation of this journal. This article treats the reader to a review of American research findings during this 20-year period in an effort to set up a base point from which readers may refer to future articles and issues. In addition to reviewing the research-based literature, the article notes examples of where research has helped to generate genuine change in police practices and (equally) where research has been ignored. Finally, the piece takes a brief look at areas wherein research itself has been eschewed altogether and attempts to argue that shying away from controversial topics is a practice that must go by the wayside if scientific, study-based practices are to replace intuitively driven ways of doing things in American policing.