About College What Works
The College of Policing is the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction, established in 2013.
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The focus of the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction is on:
- reviewing research on practices and interventions to reduce crime;
- labelling the best available evidence on interventions in terms of impact on crime reduction, how they work, where they work, how to do it and economic cost. Go to Crime Reduction Toolkit.
- providing Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and other crime reduction stakeholders with the knowledge, tools and guidance to help them target their resources more effectively.
College What Works is part of a network of What Works Centres created to provide robust and comprehensive evidence that will guide decision-making on public spending. For more information, see the
Gov.uk website.
The table below outlines some of the benefits of College What Works.
| More informed decisions | Evidence will be translated into practical insights that the police service and their partners can easily use |
| Better value for money | Guidance will be clear, helping decision-makers to access and apply the evidence locally to make choices about where to spend and disinvest |
| Reassurance and accountability | Sharing knowledge about "what works" with the public will help build confidence in the police service and its crime reduction partners |
| Collaboration and partnership | Links will be strengthened between the police service, crime reduction partners and the academic sector |
| Prevention, not reaction | Evidence will be provided on the most effective approaches that can help prevent crime |