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Practice bank

Find and share practice with organisations who are interested in crime reduction and criminal justice.

The practice bank is made up of shared interventions that have been implemented by crime reduction and community safety organisations, including policing. These have been used to address specific crime problems or organisational change. 

You can use the practice bank to identify potential interventions for your own problem solving. Search for practices using the filters.

You can also share your own interventions to be considered for the practice bank.

Browse the practice bank

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Displaying 1 - 104 of 104
Title Summary Does it work? Focus Organisation

Using an app to gather detailed information when dealing with abnormal loads at the roadside, during both encounter and police escort.

Promising Prevention

Jointly delivered NHS and police presentation to increase confidence in the police and encourage reporting of hate crime.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Providing support to patients with a violence-related injury after discharge from hospital, referring them to charities and support networks.

Promising Diversion

Training social care sector staff to give anti-fraud advice to vulnerable elderly people.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

An exhibition by artists suffering substance addiction to increase engagement and referrals to drug recovery services within the hostel community.

Promising Diversion

Using voice of the child initiative enhances multi-agency child safeguarding response.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

A virtual online passport to enhance awareness and safeguarding of individuals with autism, by integrating records into NICHE (a record management system).

Promising Prevention
Bailiwick of Guernsey Law Enforcement

Embracing new technologies to solve the problem of text redaction.

Promising Organisational

Multi-agency behaviour change service supporting participants identified as having problematic or unhealthy attitudes and behaviour towards family members.

Promising Prevention

Focuses on humanising officers and educating the public around the diversity of roles that exist in the Metropolitan Police Service.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Sharing CCTV images of suspects with business community groups to increase identifications and facilitate new lines of enquiry.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Using subject matter expects (SMEs) to identify and prepare civil order applications against people posing a sexual risk.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Framework for bringing serious and organised crime group threats into neighbourhood policing.

Promising Prevention, Diversion

An opportunity for community leaders to talk about their communities and help identify how the police can work to build trust and confidence. 

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Combining data and feedback to target police activity and improve relationships with local communities.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

An application that directs officers to geographical locations with high concentrations of serious violence.

Promising Prevention

A programme created by Devon and Cornwall Police that leads to an inclusive leadership intervention.

Promising Prevention

Involving data subjects in data project scrutiny to improve legitimacy.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Using planting to make properties less attractive for burglars and reduce victimisation in target areas.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Using digital processing software to increase the speed and efficiency of stalking and stalking-related investigations.

Promising Organisational

Transforms the digital scene capability focusing on both training and environment. It also strives to understand the digital demand workflow in Bedfordshire Police and how best to meet this demand.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Targeting perpetrators in the night-time economy by spotting and disrupting predatory behaviour.

Promising Prevention

A new process for offenders found in possession of a controlled drug for personal use, where they are offered a community resolution as an alternative to prosecution.

Promising Diversion

Providing early advice in rape and serious sexual offence investigations, to ensure a proportionate approach is taken to the examination of devices for suspects and victims.

Promising Organisational

Using a platform to capture and analyse large volumes of customer feedback, gathered through conversational SMS and a bespoke website.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Creating a space to engage and problem solve with stakeholders and community representatives.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention, Organisational

Using a checklist to support officers on approaching the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for an evidence-led prosecution (ELP). 

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

Helping women and girls to feel safer by allowing users to anonymously report incidents.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Forensic marking to deter perpetrators from repeat offending using forensic marking of moveable items and doorways, panic alarms, and forensic sprays or greases.

Promising Prevention, Reoffending

Combines police crime and intelligence data with known risk factors associated with serious violence, to identify individuals most at risk of current or future involvement in knife crime.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention, Diversion

An integrated risk management service for cases of stalking and other potentially dangerous persons.

Promising Prevention, Diversion, Reoffending

Refuge points where anyone who feels in danger can activate an alert button and receive immediate support from a local control room.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

A rapid debrief process for homicides or ‘near miss’ incidents, completed as soon as appropriate after the offence to capture early learning and good practice.

Promising Prevention

ID scanning technology for late-night licensed premises pubs and clubs, linking information about banned people and night-time economy venues.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Structured analysis of police contacts in the control room to identify vulnerable repeat callers and signpost them to relevant agencies.

Untested – new or innovative Diversion

Making details of orders more accessible to prevent domestic abuse perpetrators moving to another part of the country and targeting new victims.

Promising Prevention

Based on an FBI model that has been piloted for police call handlers to improve call management, and the application of THRIVE (threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability and engagement).

Promising Organisational

Focuses on improving the service delivered to victims, in particular the quality and consistency of information and updates, as well as ensuring all victim needs are assessed and addressed.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Employees taking time out to have supported conversations about diversity, equality and inclusion topics for learning.

Promising Organisational

Bespoke training on the voice of the child, Victims' Code of Practice videos, forensic specialist child interviews and an intranet site around learning and tools.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Independent sexual violence advisors jointly attending initial visits to potential victims of non-recent child sexual abuse.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

Applying the IOM framework to reduce reoffending and address repeat domestic abuse perpetrators.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

Face-to-face conversations with sergeants in all districts explaining force priorities and the impact of changes, to improve trust, confidence and motivation.

Promising Organisational

Training for newly promoted sergeants focusing on using the investigative mindset when attending and supervising crime scenes.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Community events held to proactively engage with local black communities.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

An online self-assessment tool for licensed premises, focusing on legal requirements and good practice to reduce impact at the venue and public spaces.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention
Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (Police CPI)

Problem-solving hubs embracing joint working with partner agencies to resolve incidents of repeat crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour.

Promising Prevention, Diversion

Proactive approach involving use of civil orders, dedicated violence against women and girls (VAWG) officers and perpetrator data proactive referrals.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

A multi-agency approach to reduce and prevent future incidents of domestic abuse.

Promising Prevention

A campaign which provides materials to empower those with influence in the lives of children and young people to engage, educate, refer, and ultimately save lives. 

Untested – new or innovative Diversion

A targeted nudge leaflet designed to reduce residential burglary, delivered by the local neighbourhood police team at postcodes of repeat burglaries. 

Promising Prevention

Working in partnership to deliver interventions that address the behaviour of domestic abuse perpetrators.

Promising Prevention, Diversion, Reoffending

Reporting parking offences online in response to a key community priority.

Promising Prevention

Identifying vehicles involved in targeting vulnerable people in the night-time economy.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Using a problem-solving approach to work with partnership agencies to address embedded criminality.

Promising Prevention

Testing the efficacy of new, innovative, audio-recording panic alarms within the household.

Promising Prevention

Using a community engagement initiative to encourage engagement and empowerment within communities. 

Promising Prevention, Diversion, Reoffending

Using signalling camera equipment to interrupt offending patterns at sites of interest, allowing time for the crime prevention team to help the victim improve their own security arrangements.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

A toolkit for use by community scrutiny panels when assessing body worn videos to establish if the correct level of force was used, then provide officers with consistent and constructive feedback 

Promising Organisational
Att10tive

Lesson resources for schools, to teach children and young people about the law, policing and safeguarding.

Promising Prevention

Internal police team to scrutinise stop searches and uses of force.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Workshops to support staff and officers from underrepresented groups with promotion or assessment processes.

Promising Organisational

Working with businesses to put preventative measures in place to reduce card processing machine fraud.

Promising Prevention

A whole-system approach that aims to train officers and staff in preventative approaches, and promote problem-solving and evidence-based policing.

Promising Prevention, Organisational

Team providing expert advice and support in the application of all criminal and civil orders.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention, Reoffending

Targeted programme for underrepresented workforce groups to improve retention and support personal development.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Project Vigilant aims to prevent sexual violence by targeting predatory behaviour in the night-time economy. 

Smarter practice Prevention

An intensive community order that replaces a burglary defendant’s custodial sentence.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

A technological call-back system that allows 101 callers to hang up the phone and keep their place in the queue for the police.

 

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Combines tools to support safer travel across Transport for London (TfL) and the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

A three-part strategy for rape and serious sexual assault investigation, known as Project Eleos.

Promising Prevention, Reoffending

Structured phone interviews with victims to improve police and partners’ understanding of their experiences of investigations.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

An immediate and optional video frontline response service for domestic abuse calls for service, rather than emergency response.
 

Promising Prevention

A problem-solving plan for catalytic converter thefts across Surrey (Operation Blink). 

Promising Prevention

An initiative to encourage garages and tyre retailers to sign up to a scheme using SmartWater (smart tagging) to mark and trace tyres found in fly-tips.

Promising Prevention

Collating Department for Transport (DfT) data to understand road harm collision hotspots and guide the work of road safety partnerships.

Promising Prevention

A road safety campaign displaying roadside posters with 'watching eyes' in key locations, based on insights from behavioural sciences.

Promising Prevention

A joint approach that focuses resources into a designated location to reduce business-related crime.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention, Diversion

A help point for vulnerable people, parked in the heart of Northampton's night-time economy every Friday and Saturday night.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

An initiative aimed at Exeter organisations to encourage prioritising the safety of women and create a sense of joint responsibility, accountability and community

Smarter practice Prevention
College of Policing

Exploring how a secondary response by neighbourhood police officers improved experiences and reduced attrition for victims of hate crime. 

Promising Prevention

Improving young people's life skills and their ability to regulate their own behaviour and challenge others, to reduce risk of harm.

Promising Diversion

Using a multi-agency child exploitation (MACE) team to support vulnerable young people in relation to serious violence prevention and identify children at risk of exploitation.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

A campaign to prevent sexual harassment by encouraging active bystander responses.

Promising Prevention
Public Health Wales

Using training, an everyday sexism recording tool and a resource toolkit to increase reporting of sexual harassment-related concerns and to address them consistently.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Using education and advocacy to collaboratively address disproportionate use of stop and search on people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and the negative impact this has on public engagement with the police.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Protecting victims from further abuse, intimidation and coercive behaviour from perpetrators in prison by blocking communication channels.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

A partnership operation to reduce suicides and improve responses to attempts on motorway bridges.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Engaging with survivors of sexual and domestic violence through an independent advisor coordinator, to learn about their lived experience and promote change in the criminal justice system.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Improving safety of speeding personal watercraft (PWC) along the Essex coastline, known as Operation Wave Breaker.

Promising Prevention

Using social media in micro hot spots to reduce serious crime and engage with the public, particularly those under the age of 25.

Promising Prevention

Using 4P (pursue, prevent, protect, prepare) plans to prevent repeat sexual offenders from reoffending.

Promising Diversion, Reoffending

Use of socio-demographic data to enrich fraud-reporting data to target hotspots of romance fraud across England and Wales, leading to a reduction in monetary losses to victims of fraud.

Promising Prevention

Measuring the effectiveness of neighbourhood teams.

Promising Organisational

A dedicated police team based in London's major trauma centre hospital to assist with evidence and investigations related to victims of violent crime attending hospital.

Untested – new or innovative Reoffending

Statements that highlight the wider impact of knife crime on local communities and can be used as evidence to support prosecutions.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Reducing online child victimisation using a team of cyber volunteers to deliver online safety awareness messaging.

Promising Prevention, Diversion

Using visual models to plan how to respond to different demand, resourcing and process scenarios in policing.

Promising Prevention, Organisational

Working with the University of Northampton to develop a community safety package that teaches students to stay safe on a night out.

Untested – new or innovative Prevention

Involving people affected by crime and anti-social behaviour in engagement activities to scrutinise and influence service provision to victims.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Engaging with victims of crime by listening and acting upon their feedback.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

An online engagement platform to increase the number and diversity of volunteers who assist the police.
 

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Police worked with a local charity and volunteer Somalian community leaders to visit Somalian children and young people in public places. They discussed issues important to the young people, aiming to improve police engagement.
 

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

Enabling staff members who work in high-risk policing areas to request a pause from their role.

Untested – new or innovative Organisational

About linked practices

Some practice examples are linked to other sources. You can use the 'Linked to' filter to identify these groups of practice.

You can find practice:

  • identified in inspection reports published by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Service (HMICFRS)
  • identified as Smarter practice that has been tried in a force and reviewed by the College of Policing, HMICFRS and the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), and is considered suitable for further testing
  • which has won a Tilley award for problem oriented projects that achieved measurable success in resolving issues faced by the police, partners and the community
  • which received funding for local innovation across science, technology, analysis, and research (Police STAR Fund)

Sharing your practice

You can share your intervention with other organisations to help them tackle similar problems.

Anyone from organisations with an interest in community safety and reducing crime can share implemented practice including:

  • promising practice
  • new or innovative practice (untested)
  • examples of interventions that didn’t work

Your intervention does not have to be evaluated but should include some learning that can be shared.

We may ask for some more information about your practice example before we publish it. If you share practice, we will contact you 12 months after adding it to the bank to ask for updates.

Share your practice

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