Case Study: Operation Snap
continued...
Evaluation
Projects like Snap are relatively new but are inevitably going to be asked to demonstrate their effectiveness
as they become well known and if, as we hope, a national solution is developed. There are many possible
approaches to evaluation.
Educational chats, warnings, prosecutions and convictions are all good output measures for evaluating third
party reporting projects - and where licences are revoked or drivers are imprisoned we could argue that we can
demonstrate outcomes too (dangerous drivers are removed from the roads).
There’s also the total number of submissions made (important in showing public endorsement), the types of
activity being detected (important for showing that seriously bad driving is being punished), and the range of
charges being made possible (important for showing that it’s not just the worst of the worst that can be dealt
with).
Statistics should also be obtained on the proportion of submissions that lead to successful follow-up action,
the type of offences that are particularly effectively identified, as well as issues like common faults with
submissions, or points at which attempted submissions are abandoned.
An online survey at the point of submission could provide feedback and insight from those who are already
engaging, whilst a similar approach could be attempted with those who are being accused, when we contact
them. This kind of feedback should all be used to make the process as simple and effective as possible, so
that if numbers of submissions increase (as we probably have to plan for), officers aren’t caught up dealing with
queries or chasing missing information, for example.
But it would also be beneficial to know more about the why and not just the what. Why are some offences
reported more than others? Are they more prevalent, more irritating to drivers, or more easily captured? Are
there lessons here about offences that third party reporting projects might struggle to deter? Does an increase
in submissions equate to success in promoting the project, or is it in indication of increased offending? Or
increased dash cam usage?
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