Sharing Information

The College of Policing is planning to open up part of the Police Online
Knowledge Area (POLKA) to enable academics and other policing partners to tap into the wealth of information around policing approaches to reducing crime.

Part of the online knowledge bank on POLKA will be made more widely accessible to the public from September as part of the College’s ambition to share best practice and encourage the development of evidence-based
approaches to policing. Though sensitive information around operational
policing will remain restricted on the site.

Rachel Tuffin, head of Research, Analysis and Infor mation at the College, said: “Using the best available evidence will improve decision-making and enable the
police to deliver the best possible service to the public. There are some terrific opportunities to share information on what works and to carry out studies on various initiatives including electronic GPS tagging to find out if they work.”

The move follows recent upgrades to the look and feel of the online collaboration platform. Further improvements are in the pipeline and will include delivering tailored content directly to the user.