Whichever aspects of policing you're studying, the library has books, journals and databases to suit your needs.

Welcome to our guide to resources for Policing courses. As the Learning and Research Librarian for Policing, I am here to support you in your learning and assignments.

Lawrence Dean, Learning & Research Librarian for Policing

You can use LibrarySearch to search for the books you need. Just type in a few words from the title plus the surname of the author(s) into the search box. If you get stuck – please ask!

You will find the majority of the Policing book collection at classmark 363 to 364 (on the 2nd floor at Augustine House):

  • 345 – Criminal law
  • 363.2 – Police services
  • 363.23 – Law enforcement
  • 363.232 – Police surveillance
  • 363.25 – Crime detection
  • 363.254 – Interrogation of witnesses
  • 363.258 – Identification of criminals
  • 364 – Crime prevention
  • 364.1 – Criminal offences
  • 364.106 – Organised crime
  • 364.13 – Political offences
  • 364.152 – Homicide
  • 364.153 – Sex offences
  • 364.2 – Causes of crime

Remember to check the different areas housing the 7-day loan (open shelves) and 4-week loans (moving shelves).

Many books are also available electronically as e-books via Library Search. You can access over 11,000 e-book titles on all subjects and some of these will be about policing. It is particularly important to know this if you are studying on a distance course such as the In-Service Policing degree, the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) programme or the Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP), since unless you are able to visit one of our campus libraries you will only be able to benefit from our online resources.

Part-time or distance learning students in Policing should also be aware of SCONUL Access, a scheme which allows many university library users to borrow or use books and journals at other libraries closer to home which belong to the scheme. It is a co-operative venture between most of the higher education libraries of the UK and Ireland. Find out about the Sconul Access scheme.

You can browse printed copies of journals on the 2nd floor of Augustine House in the silent zone (west wing). These are for use in the library only.

All the Policing journals are also available online:

  • Police Journal
  • Police Practice and Research
  • Police Quarterly
  • Policing
  • Policing and Society

You can see which journals are available online by using LibrarySearch. Make sure you log in first! (You will need your university username and password).Try entering the title of a journal into the search box or using the “Find e-journals by title” link.

You can also browse e-journals by subject, using Browzine. This software allows you to read a journal like an e-book, so you can look through the whole journal rather than just individual articles. There is an app so you can use it easily on your phone or other mobile device. 

You can find individual journal articles to read online by doing a quick search in LibrarySearch. Try searching for a key word or phrase connected with your research topic, e.g. “crime control”. See our quick guide for more information.

Open access journals

The Directory of Open Access Journals includes some policing journals. Open access journals are usually scholarly, but the difference is, the publishers of these journals believe in making their research freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This means that you (or your institution) don’t have to have a subscription to the journal to be able to read the articles they publish.

There are lots of databases that contain articles about policing, and they are available via LibrarySearch – just click on the “Find databases” link in the left-hand menu and you will see an alphabetical list. Browse the list until you find the one you want.

The most useful databases for your subject include:

Lexis+ UK: An excellent resource for legal information including Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments, and case law. Lexis+ UK also indexes a number of legal journals containing articles about criminal justice and the legal system and procedure and Halsbury’s Laws.

LexisLibrary Newspapers UK: Online access to all national and regional newspapers covering the last twenty years.

Oxford Research Encyclopaedia - Criminology and Criminal Justice: Oxford Research Encyclopedias (OREs) offer long-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars. This particular one includes a lot of content relating to policing.

SAGE Journals: Contains full-text articles from over 1,000 journals across all disciplines, including policing, law, criminology, and criminal justice.

ScienceDirect: Full-text journal database from Elsevier. Includes many useful articles on forensic investigation.

Taylor and Francis Online Journals: Large multi-disciplinary database providing full-text access to Taylor and Francis and Routledge journals from 1997 onwards.

Westlaw UK: Provides access to case reports and legislation.

Kanopy is a great video-streaming service which includes a number of documentaries. Plus, we have access to Box of Broadcasts (BoB) which archives British TV and radio broadcasts. A great feature is that you can take clips of programmes and put them in your presentations or analyse the transcripts.

Recommended websites:

College of Policing: The College of Policing is a professional body for everyone working across policing.

National Crime Agency: The NCA leads the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime, protecting the public by targeting and pursuing those criminals who pose the greatest risk to the UK.

National Police Library: Free access (to all serving police officers and staff) to resources on all aspect of policing (current and historical), crime, criminology, criminal justice and College of Policing documents.

What Works Centre for Crime Reduction: Established in 2013, this centre was established in 2013 and is part of the College of Policing. The website contains a wide range of information from a variety of policing stakeholders.

 

Image shows evaluating sources: the CRAAP test - check for currency, relevance, accuracy, authority and purpose of resources before you use them.
Evaluating resources: The CRAAP test
Lawrence Dean
Library and Research Librarian