Welcome to the Criminal Investigation degree. very much look forward to you joining the course and I hope you find your studies interesting, informative, enlightening and thought provoking. As members of the public we often take for granted what goes on within criminal investigations. This course allows you to look beyond what is freely available in the press and to critically analyse what the process of investigation involves, who and what agencies conduct investigations, and the training and education of those trusted to undertake often very serious investigations. We will allow you to engage with some of the top academics in this field, as well as practitioners within the police and criminal justice system. That way your view will be informed from different perspectives, allowing you to have a broader and deeper understanding of the criminal investigation process.

Dr Martin O'Neill
Course Director

Key dates

Course start date: 16 September 2024

Academic Calendar: Semesters

View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2024-25 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.  

Welcome and induction

Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and student life at CCCU, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.

It is important to check your Welcome Schedule for all the activities you are required to attend during the week.

We will let you know your group and room for the Meet your Personal Academic Tutor session during the Course Welcome on Monday 16th September. If you are unable to attend this session or have any queries regarding this please go to ER.1.14 (Erasmus) at the beginning of the Meet your Personal Academic Tutor activity to find out your group.

Your teaching timetable 

UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities on a course. Your individual timetable will be available via MyTimetable and is personalised to show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend.

Your individual student timetable can only be produced once you have engaged with online registration and created your computing account. It is essential you complete these tasks when invited, so that your course team can assign you to your teaching activities and publish your individual timetable.

Find out more about all aspects of timetabling for new students including user guides.

Welcome

In the first year of the course, you will be introduced to a range of different topics, all related to Policing. There are six core modules that all help to contextualise criminal investigations for you before you move on in years two and three to more specialist aspects of investigations. Each academic year is divided into two main semesters, allowing you to concentrate on three modules each semester. Semester One lasts from September until January. The second semester lasts from the end of January until May.

The modules you will study in your first year are:

  • Crime: Representations & Realities
  • The Criminal Justice System and How to Tell What Works
  • Introduction to Study Skills and Contexts within Justice Specialisms
  • The Law and Politics of Policing
  • Introducing Crime Scene Investigation
  • Crime Science and Problem Solving

In the last few years there has been some controversy around the way the police dealt with a series of deaths within the Metropolitan Police (Barking). Some of the victims (all young males) were found dead in or near the same cemetery. Despite suspicious circumstances, each case was initially treated as a non-suspicious death. The family of the fourth victim undertook their own investigations and eventually a person was convicted of four homicides and a number of sexual crimes.

I have deliberately given only a few details of this famous case. Your task (this is for interest and discussion and is not compulsory) is to find out as much as you can about this case for the first week of your studies. Try to use as many sources as you can, such as Google, Google Scholar etc, to see what you can find. Why do you think the case may have initially failed to identify the cases as suspicious?

We have sought to develop the course even more since it began, and we now have exciting facilities such as a Hydra Suite, Interview rooms, and a custody suite (with cells!). In the third year we have a new module which links to Inside Justice, a charity that investigates potential miscarriages of justice. You will have opportunity to do this module and investigate real cases and present findings to Inside Justice. Alternatively, you can choose Gangs and Serious Youth offending.

You can stay up to date with what's happening in our Faculty with the Faculty Instagram page 

We look forward to meeting you in the Welcome and Induction week w.c Monday 16th September 2024.

 

Community

On the social side, the Student Union (CCSU) has a huge range of clubs and societies – all of which have unique social calendars of their own and offer endless opportunities to make lifelong friends and discover new hobbies. And you can always create your own society and cultivate your own community!

CCSU will be hosting their Welcome Fayre on Wednesday 18th September 2024. Make sure you keep checking the CCSU website for further details and how to get involved.

We understand that you may be nervous about your first few weeks on campus but rest assured - you'll be joining a nurturing and supportive environment where diversity, equality and individuality are part of everything we do.

You can find out more about our welcoming community and making friends

If you are an International Student joining us then please see our International Student Support pages for further information and guidance.

 

Pre-course reading

If you wish to undertake some reading before the course begins, some useful texts are highlighted below. The first is a nationally recognised book on policing, written specifically for students:

  • Dickens, T. et al. (Eds.) (2021) Blackstone’s Handbook for Policing Students, 2022. Oxford University Press.
  • This new volume has been available from December 2021 onward (previous editions are available, but they will not be current).

A classic text on policing, recently revised, is:

  • Bowling, B., Reiner, R, & Sheptycki, J. (2019) The Politics of the Police. Oxford University Press.

A useful Criminal Investigation text (core for the Criminal Investigation module, etc.) is:

  • O.Neill, M. (2018) Key challenges in criminal Investigation. Bristol: Policy press.


International student success programme

International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.

Contact details

If you have any queries, please contact the course team at policing@canterbury.ac.uk