Policing futures: transforming the evidence-based policing paradigm through interdisciplinarity and epistemological anarchism

Evidence-based policing (EBP) has gained prominence in jurisdictions across the core anglosphere. Its paradigmatic approach to knowledge production, and assessment validation criteria for research designs their outputs remains contention. Concurrently, interdisciplinarity (ID) proliferated other areas of practice, yet EBP untouched by these global developments it appears a neglected area academic debate. In combination with limited uptake at institutional practice levels, troubled landscape, predictions an uncertain extraordinarily complex future operating environment (FOE): question arises whether present paradigm is sufficient meet challenges implications police research. This conceptual paper makes epistemic drawing on ID epistemological anarchism (EA) contributes perspective its theoretical methodological innovation as futures-focused endeavour. It concludes that if be maximised enterprise support FOE, broader epistemology necessary, embraces pluralism, eschews monolithism proactively applies EA research, policy practice.