Professional Policing

Our Professional Policing Degree will equip you with the pre-join qualification to apply for a police officer role in England and Wales. The degree is licensed by the College of Policing and meets all the requirements of their National Curriculum. Police Officers in England and Wales are now required to hold a professional policing qualification.

Joining the police is a diverse and highly rewarding career. It will enable you to make a difference to the public through investigation, prosecution, crime reduction and making people feel safer.

A career in Policing will require you to use your problem solving and communication skills. Using your resilience and tenacity, you will sometimes be exposed to fast-paced situations and will need to remain calm under pressure. Acting within the law and procedural constraints, you will need to be sensitive to the needs of victims, witnesses and suspects.

Some of the topics, questions and themes you will explore include:

• Evidence based best practice on how to undertake investigations and make sound decisions, utilising police powers.

• Why and how crime occurs and the practicalities of applying criminal legislation to given situations.

• Crime types and contemporary issues that both affect and impact on crime.

• Victimology and offending behaviour, as well as police partnership working with other agencies including social services, the courts and the CPS.

Once qualified, you will have opportunities to rise through the ranks, enter specialist areas of policing or work in a position which suits you.

The staff you will work with on this course include both experienced professionals and academic specialists carrying out innovative research in the field. We will introduce you to the policing profession through the study of:

• Law

• Policy and procedure

• Criminal justice

• Crime and deviance

• Global policing issues

One essential theme which runs through the course is a focus on evidence based policing. This is a concept which is central to modern policing and a skill which is highly valued in the service.

Throughout the course you will have opportunities to gain hands on experience by working with vulnerable people across a diverse range of groups. This could be through our partnerships with police forces in Yorkshire and Humberside, or with some of the organisations that work alongside the police service and focus on:

• Restorative justice

• Support for victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse

• Victim’s charities

• Agencies supporting vulnerable people in society

Course Modules

All modules are compulsory:

Year 1

Introduction to Policing (20 credits)
Criminological theories, models and prevention (20 credits)
Introduction to Study Skills (20 credits)
Criminal Justice (20 credits)
Policing Communities and Problem solving (20 credits)
Criminal Law and Diversity (20 credits)

Year 2

Response Policing (20 credits)
Vulnerability and Risk (20 credits)
Intelligence and Information (20 credits)
Policing the Roads (20 credits)
Designing Police Research (20 credits)
Investigation (20 credits)

Year 3

Policing Research Dissertation (40 credits)
Public Protection (20 credits)
Decision making and Discretion (20 credits)
Counter Terrorism (20 credits)
Digital Policing (20 credits)