Policing and Investigation BSc (Hons)

University of Huddersfield

About the course

Why Policing and Investigation?

The growth in policing and investigation as an area of criminal justice work is now broader than just the police service. This course offers you the opportunity to critically explore and assess the nature and use of policing and investigatory work in a variety of social contexts. You’ll be supported to gain the knowledge and skills you’ll need to prepare for a future career working in organisations who engage with and in policing activities, including but not limited to local, national and international policing organisations, local councils, private and voluntary sector organisations. Please note, some of these careers will require further education or training).*

*This course is not accredited through the College of Policing and is not a ‘pre-join degree’ programme allowing direct entry into the police. It does prepare you well for one of the level 6 ‘top-up’ direct entry degrees that can be undertaken if you have already been awarded a degree and meet police entry requirements. If you're interested in one of the entry routes into policing, please visit the College of Policing website.

This course will enable you to:

• Critically study the range of formal and informal responses to the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal and anti-social behaviours.
• Explore the different ways of understanding the work of the police and other policing and investigative agencies nationally, cross-nationally and internationally, as well as comparatively with other models of policing.
• Consider the nature and function of policing, crime prevention and investigative work within the context of social control and order, and the relationship of such work to the state and to the general public.
• Understand theories of criminal behaviour, strategies and theories of policing, preventing and investigating crime, accountability and legitimacy, evidence-based research and crime data analysis that can inform policing and the conduct of investigations.
• Investigate key areas of particular challenge such as risk, security and terrorism, serious crime, international and borderless crime.
• Explore methods of research crime and policing issues, and the application of research evidence to policing and investigation strategies, policy and practice.

How will you learn?

You’ll be taught by tutors who have a wide range of research specialisms and knowledge of the issues involved in policing and investigation today. They’ll give you an insight into key contemporary debates and concerns, as well as what it’s like working in policing and investigation sectors.

You’ll benefit from guest lecturers and tutors who have worked in positions such as police officers, crime analysts, crime scene investigators, fraud investigators, as well as in the office of the police crime commissioner, Local Authority and many more. They’ll use their expertise to give you practical examples of the work you could end up doing.

Key to the learning strategy on the course is active and engaging debate around policing and investigation work, the historical and social context within which that work takes place, and its effectiveness in responding to contemporary crime challenges.

Your career

Previous Huddersfield Criminology graduates have gone on to roles relating to education, social services, healthcare, legal, research and military and protective services in organisations including Lancashire Constabulary, West Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Probation Trust, Offploy C.I.C, the National Probation Service, Her Majesty Prison Service Leeds, Private Prison Service, Wakefield Prison, NHS, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, YMCA, Warrington Community Living, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Active Social Care.