What is Police Science?
Police Science is research done in the field of policing and related areas.
These could include forensics (e. g. DNA, fingerprints), forensic psychology (e. g. assessing and treating offenders), investigative psychology (e. g. using offenders' behaviour to help identify them), criminology (e. g. the study of crime and how to deal with it), criminal justice (what to do with offenders once they have been convicted), etc.
Usually, research is done and then published by academics in the form of academic articles, published in academic journals. The problem with that is that most police practitioners cannot access those articles. Police Science Dr turns some of that knowledge into media every practitioner can get- videos (Watch) , podcast episodes (Listen), transcripts (Read).
How to use the Police Science Dr site
The main content of the Police Science Dr site is research that has been translated into videos you can consume in a variety of ways.
Here are some of the topics you will find on here:
What is investigative psychology?
What is offender profiling?
What is geographic profiling?
What is investigative interviewing?
What is evidence-based policing?
How to read academic research
How reliable is witness testimony?
How to interview children in a forensic context
You can listen to the podcast version of each video on-the-go, you can watch the videos themselves, or you can download their transcripts, with references, key learning points and time stamps. To get access to the transcripts, you need to join the Police Science Dr mailing list, which lets you know of relevant updates and announcements. You can do that by entering your details in the form at the bottom of the page.
There is an interactive video on the
Watch page (and below) that helps you decide which videos are the most relevant to you, based on your interests. You can select videos categorised as Evidence-Based Policing, Police Research, Investigations and Reactive Policing.
So, go and watch some videos on research that is relevant to you and your job!
Welcome, and happy learning! 😁