Public health approach (policing)

The World Health Organisation’s public health approach to reducing violence tries to determine the common risk factors that lead to violence and the protective factors preventing violence. It has four stages:

1. surveillance: define the problem through collecting information and data about violence;
2. identify risk and protective factors: use research to look at the causes of violence, what is linked to it, risk factors for violence and where interventions could be effective;
3. develop and evaluate interventions: find out what works to prevent violence by designing, implementing and evaluating interventions; and
4. implement effective interventions: monitor the effects of these interventions on risk factors and evaluate their impact and cost-effectiveness.

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