"How do we know this works?" : an evaluation of two British Columbia gang violence hotspot projects using a knowledge-to-action framework

Academic research is one component of evidence-based policing, but must be paired with knowledge translation, implementation, and evaluation strategies that integrate real word outcomes and frontline feedback into the knowledge cycle. One framework for understanding this knowledge cycle is the Knowledge to Action (KTA) framework adapted by Santos and Santos (2019) from Graham et al. (2006). This paper uses the KTA framework to critically assess one police agency’s implementation of directed patrol hotspots policing to target gang-related violence in British Columbia, Canada. Overall, the projects were effective, but real-world operational demands limited the research design, and the analytical team was unable to design a deployment model to maintain test and control conditions that would have enabled more rigorous evaluation methodologies. Post-hoc analysis of gang-related homicides and attempted homicides pre- and post-intervention showed that directed patrol hotspots policing is effective at reducing gang-related violence in British Columbia, but more rigorous evaluation is needed to understand differences between completed homicides and attempted homicides. Furthermore, the agency’s use of research, briefings, feedback, and evaluation allowed for an effective feedback loop to inform and progress the KTA cycle.