Attorney General Eric Holder Monday called on law enforcement officials to embrace new techniques for fighting crime, but with an eye toward ensuring innovation is actually producing results.

Speaking to a conference on gang violence and crime prevention hosted by the White House, Holder said that local law enforcement officials were often the best positioned to determine what works in fighting crime.

"You, our mayors and police chiefs in this room, are innovators in the administration of justice. You are the people who work to make changes on the front-lines," Holder said. "You know what works, and what doesn't work, to make our neighborhoods and communities safer. You field-test new strategies and you prove that solutions are possible to some of our most challenging crime problems."

He added, "Indeed, crime-fighting is more than anything a local pursuit, and we all know that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer to the problem of crime."

Holder highlighted an effort in North Carolina to target the most violent offenders for prosecution and then warn lower-level, non-violent criminals that they might face the same fate.

"Police officers will round up young dealers, show videotapes of them dealing drugs, and let them know that their cases are being prepared for indictment, which of course would mean hard time in prison," he said. "These young dealers are then presented with a choice - they can stay on track for prison or, if they are willing to change their ways, there is help for them in the form of things like mentoring and job training."

Holder added, "The message is clear: you have a chance to do the right thing. ... This strategy appears to have changed the relationship between law enforcement and residents, and it may have broken what seemed like a fixed cycle of drugs, crime and lives cut short."

However, Holder also emphasized the need to be sure new and innovative programs are actually working.

"We need to develop evidence-based strategies for criminal law enforcement," he said. "This means moving beyond useless labels and instead embracing science and data as the foundations of policy. This is how we get past the traditional model of reacting to crime after it occurs, and shift instead to a preventive stance."

He added, "We must show results. This means taking innovative programs and new evidence-based strategies, and evaluating them honestly."

When innovations prove successful, law enforcement officials ought to share their approaches to others around the country, a process that Holder said the Department of Justice was committed to supporting.

"We need to collaborate to ensure that our successes are sustained, magnified and replicated across the country," he said. "We must match resources effectively with local needs, and we can only do that by making decisions in true partnership with localities."

He added, "Let us do that today. Let us learn from each other and then put what we learn to good use. I have no doubt that together, in partnership, we will develop law enforcement programs that are sophisticated, contemporary, effective, and, simply, smart."