ADVERTORIAL INTERVENTIONS
THE CASE FOR ONLINE
By Andy Bartlett, AdventFS LTD
Policing is under sustained pressure. Rising demand, increasingly complex caseloads, and finite specialist capacity mean forces must think differently about where their time is most effectively spent. A large proportion of individuals entering the system every day are not high-harm offenders. They present with low criminogenic needs, often mild substance misuse, emotional reactivity, or situational impulsivity. These are the people who repeatedly draw on police time but do not require intensive, resource-heavy supervision.
For this cohort, digital behavioural interventions are not a compromise; they are a proportionate, evidence- based response.
Across multiple high-quality meta- analyses, therapist-supported internet
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CBT performs no worse than face-to-face CBT. Hedman-Lagerlöf et al. (2023) found equivalence across 31 trials, and Carlbring et al. (2018) reported the same pattern across 20 head-to-head studies. In wider public health research, digital programmes routinely shift concrete behaviours; smoking, alcohol use, diet, physical activity (Hou et al., 2014; Tzelepis et al., 2021). The evidence points to a consistent conclusion: where risk and need are low, online delivery is not inferior. The operational implications for policing
are substantial. When Risk–Need– Responsivity (RNR) principles are applied effectively at the initial point of contact, forces can channel shift low-risk, low-need individuals into digital intervention pathways. This reduces unnecessary officer time, cuts avoidable demand, and protects face- to-face capacity for those who genuinely require intensive support. Crucially, digital
pathways can be activated immediately after police involvement, closing the gap in which risk behaviours often escalate. There is also a clear link between timely consequences and reduced reoffending. Evidence from the Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) sanctions model shows that when responses are delivered quickly and predictably, compliance improves and repeat violations fall. Historically, SCF has been criticised for leaning too heavily on deterrence and not sufficiently addressing the underlying causes of behaviour. However, integrating online behavioural- change interventions into early-stage pathways directly resolves this issue. Digital CBT programmes introduce a rehabilitative component that targets the needs driving the behaviour, rather than relying solely on sanction-based deterrence. In practice, this means policing can deliver interventions that are both
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