U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 
www.cops.usdoj.gov 
Researching a Probl m 

by Ronald V. Clarke 
Phyllis A. Schultze 
Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 
Problem-Solving Tools Series 
No. 2 

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing 

Got a Problem? Weve got answers! 

Log on to the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing website 
at www.popcenter.org for a wealth of information to help 
you deal more effectively with crime and disorder in your 

www.PopCenter.org community, including: 

 Web-enhanced versions of all currently available Guides 
 Interactive training exercises 
 Online access to research and police practices 
 n online problem analysis module 
www.PopCenter.orgesigned for police and those who work with them to 
address community problems, 
Got a Problem? Weve got answers!
ww.popcenter.org 
Log on to the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing website 
s a great 
resource in problem-oriented policing. 


Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 
Problem-Solving Tools Series 
Guide No. 2 

Researching a Problem 

Ronald V. Clarke 
Phyllis A. Schultze 

This project was supported by cooperative agreement 
#2004CKWXK002 by the Office of Community Oriented Policing 
Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained herein 
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the 
official position of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to 
specific companies, products, or services should not be 
considered an endorsement of the product by the author or the 

U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are 
illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. 
ISBN: 1-932582-48-7 

April 2005 


About the Problem-Solving Tools Series 

About the Problem-Solving Tools Series 

The problem-solving tool guides are one of three series 
of the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police. The other two are 
the problem-specific guides and response guides. 

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police summarize knowledge 
about how police can reduce the harm caused by 
specific crime and disorder problems. They are guides 
to preventing problems and improving overall incident 
response, not to investigating offenses or handling specific 
incidents. The guides are written for policeof whatever 
rank or assignmentwho must address the specific 
problems the guides cover. The guides will be most useful 
to officers who 

 
understand basic problem-oriented policing principles 
and methods, 
 
can look at problems in depth, 
 
are willing to consider new ways of doing police 
business, 
 
understand the value and the limits of research 
knowledge, and 
 
are willing to work with other community agencies to 
find effective solutions to problems. 

Researching a Problem 

The tool guides summarize knowledge about information 
gathering and analysis techniques that might assist police 
at any of the four main stages of a problem-oriented 
project: scanning, analysis, response and assessment. Each 
guide 

 
describes the kind of information produced by each 
technique, 
 
discusses how this information could be useful in 
problem solving, 
 
gives examples of the previous use of the technique, 
 
provides practical guidance about adapting the 
technique to the specific problem being addressed, 
 
provides templates of data collection instruments 
(where this is appropriate), 
 
suggests how to analyze data gathered by using the 
technique, 
 
shows how to interpret the information correctly and 
present it effectively, 
 
warns about any ethical problems in using the 
technique, 
 
discusses the limitations of the technique when used by 
police in a problem-oriented project, 
 
provides reference sources of more detailed 
information about the technique, and 
 
indicates when expert help in using the technique 
should be sought. 

About the Problem-Solving Tools Series 

Extensive technical and scientific literatures cover each 
of the techniques dealt within the tool guides. The tool 
guides aim to provide only enough information about 
each technique to enable police and others to use it in the 
course of problem-solving. In most cases, the information 
gathered in the course of a problem-solving project does 
not have to withstand rigorous scientific scrutiny. Where 
greater confidence is needed in the data, police might 
need expert help in using the technique. This can often 
be found in local university departments of sociology, 
psychology and criminal justice. 

The information needs for any single project can be quite 
diverse and it will often be necessary to employ a variety 
of data collection techniques in meeting these needs. 
Similarly, a variety of different analytic techniques may 
be needed to analyze the data. Some of the techniques 
may be unfamiliar to police and crime analysts, but the 
effort invested in learning to use them can make all the 
difference to the success of a project. 


Researching a Problem 

For more information about problem-oriented policing, 
visit the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing online at www. 
popcenter.org or via the COPS website at www.cops.usdoj. 
gov. This website offers free online access to: 

 
the Problem-Oriented Guides series, 
 
the companion Response Guides and Problem-Solving Tools 
series, 
 
instructional information about problem-oriented policing 
and related topics, 
 
an interactive training exercise, 
 
online access to important police research and practices, 
and 

 
an online problem analysis module. 

Acknowledgments 

Acknowledgments 

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series is very much 
a collaborative effort. While each guide has a primary 
author, other project team members, COPS Office staff 
and anonymous peer reviewers contributed to each guide 
by proposing text, recommending research and offering 
suggestions on matters of format and style. 

The principal project team developing the guide series 
comprised Herman Goldstein, professor emeritus, 
University of Wisconsin Law School; Ronald V. Clarke, 
professor of criminal justice, Rutgers University; John 

E. Eck, professor of criminal justice, University of 
Cincinnati; Michael S. Scott, clinical assistant professor, 
University of Wisconsin Law School; Rana Sampson, 
police consultant, San Diego; and Deborah Lamm 
Weisel, director of police research, North Carolina State 
University. 
Nancy Leach and Cynthia Pappas oversaw the project 
for the COPS Office. Richard Allinson edited the guide. 
Research for the guides was conducted at the Criminal 
Justice Library at Rutgers University under the direction 
of Phyllis Schultze. 

The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable help and 
advice received from Barbara Steinberg, Deborah Lamm 
Weisel and Janet Smith in the preparation of this guide. 


Contents 

Contents 

AbouttheProblem-SolvingToolsGuideSeries ........ i
Acknowledgments ..................... v
Introduction .........................................1
Defining Your Problem .......................................7
Formulating Search Terms ............................. 8
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites................................. 11
Center for Problem-Oriented Policing ...................................... 12
National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts Database (NCJRS) . . . . . . . . 14
The HomeOffice, U.K................................................... 15 
Crime Reduction Website, Home Office, U.K. ............................... 16 
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) ................................... 16
Other Useful Websites ................................................. 17
Expanding Your Internet Search From Your Home or Office ........................ 23
Searching the Internet Using Google ...................................... 23
OnlineNewspaperArchives ............................................. 24
Online Databases Requiring a Fee ........................................ 25
Getting Advice ........................................................... 27
Crime Analysts ....................................................... 27
Other Police Departments............................................... 27
Local College or University Faculty ....................................... 27
National Experts ...................................................... 28
Visiting a Library ......................................................... 29
Public Libraries ....................................................... 29
University or College Libraries ........................................... 31
Evaluating Your Primary Sources of Information ................................. 35
Academic Articles ..................................................... 35
Reports of Police Projects............................................... 36
Using the Information You Have Found ........................................ 39
Understanding Your Problem ............................................ 39
Identifying Responses.................................................. 41
Conclusion............................................................... 43
References .............................................................. 45
About the Authors......................................................... 47
Recommended Readings ................................................... 49
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police...................................... 53


Introduction 

Problem-oriented policing focuses, one-by-one, on specific 
problems of crime and disorder with the intention of 
identifying and altering the particular factors giving rise 
to each problem. The problems addressed in problem-
oriented policing tend not to be confined to just a few 
police jurisdictions, but are more widely experienced. It is 
therefore likely that some other agency has tried to solve 
the kind of problem that you are dealing with now. Or 
perhaps some researcher has studied a similar problem 
and learned things that might be useful to your work. You 
could save yourself a lot of time and effort by finding out 
what they did and why. In particular, you can learn which 
responses seemed to be effective and which were not. So 
long as they made available a written report of their work, 
this guide will help you discover what they did. 

Having found out what others have done, you cannot 
simply copy what they did. You will have to adapt any 
successful responses they used to your own situation. This 
guide does not tell you how to analyze and understand 
your own problem. It will only help you to profit from 
the work of those who have dealt with a similar problem. 
It is designed to take you as quickly as possible to the 
information you need and to help you evaluate and make 
the best use of this information. In doing this, it assumes: 

 See Weisel (in press) for a 
comprehensive treatment of analysis. 

 
You are familiar with problem-oriented policing. The guide 
assumes that a problem-solving model, such as SARA 
(Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment), is guiding 
your project. The guide will assist you at the Analysis 
and Response stages by pointing you to the possible 
cause of the problem you are tackling and to the ways 
you might respond. 



 
You are willing to consider new responses to the problem. 
Rarely does police enforcement alone solve a persisting 
problem. To bring a lasting improvement, it is almost 
always necessary to modify the conditions giving rise to 
the problem, such as a lack of security or surveillance. 
Whatever measures you adopt must be carefully 
matched to the nature of your problem. Many of the 
measures are likely to be outside your experience and, 
indeed, that of most police officers. So, you need to 
learn about the ones that have been successfully used 
before in dealing with the kind of problem you face. 
While it is not usually recommended that a police 
agency blindly adopt another agency's responses to a 
problem, neither is it a good idea to be blind to what 
others have done. The key is to understand whether 
lessons learned elsewhere would apply under the 
conditions that exist for your problem. 

 Comprehensive descriptions are 
provided by Benamati et al. (1998) 
and Nelson (1997). 

 
You have limited time. The guide assumes that you have 
limited time to research best practice and that you 
want results quickly. You are not writing an academic 
paper where you might be faulted for missing a 
particular article or book. You are simply trying to 
find information that will help you with the practical 
task of dealing with your problem. For this reason, the 
guide does not provide a comprehensive description 
of all information sources, whether on the Internet 
or in libraries. Rather, it is intended to help you find 
two main categories of information relevant to your 
task: (1) articles by researchers who have studied the 
problem you are facing and, (2) reports of police 
projects dealing with the problem. The first category of 
information will help you understand the factors giving 
rise to your problem; the second will help you find 
effective responses. Later in the project, you might wish 

to search for a third category of information: detailed 
information about a particular response (say, street 
closures or a publicity campaign) that you would like to 
implement. 

 
You are not writing a formal literature review. The guide will 
not include guidance about writing up the results of 
your literature search, but it will provide some advice 
about reading the material you find and extracting the 
information you need. 
 
You have Internet access. Nowadays, it is very difficult 
to research a problem without having access to the 
Internet. The guide assumes that you have this access 
and that you are familiar with searching for information 
on the Internet. (Indeed, you might have found this 
guide on the Internet.) The computer you use will need 
a copy of Adobe Reader, which allows you to read and 
download articles in portable document format (.pdf) 
that you find at websites on the Internet. Unless your 
computer has a high speed connection, this process of 
visiting websites and reading and downloading material 
can be slow and frustrating. Most computers in libraries 
have high speed connections and you can usually 
pay to obtain print copies of the material you have 
downloaded.

 Can be downloaded from www. adobe.com 
 
 
You have library access. The guide assumes that you 
have access to a large public library, or preferably 
a university or college library. Not only do these 
have computers linked to the Internet, but they also 
have paid subscriptions to some on-line sources of 
information that can be particularly helpful in your 
research. In addition, college or university libraries 


hold large numbers of books and journals that contain 
information that may be very relevant to your needs, 
especially if they have a criminal justice program. They 
also have professional librarians who can point you in 
the right direction and save you hours of work. 

The guide recommends a particular sequence of steps 
to take in searching for material, which should lead you 
as quickly as possible to the information you need. Even 
so, unless you are lucky and hit upon the right material 
quickly, you can expect to spend many hours on the 
Internet or in the library. For most problems, there is 
relatively little available literature, and finding relevant 
articles and reports can be difficult. Rarely will all the 
information you need about your problem be in one place 
unless it happens to be the subject of one of the Problem-
Oriented Guides for Police Series. More usually you will have 
to piece together items of information from a variety of 
sources. At first, you should concentrate on understanding 
the factors that give rise to the problem. Later, you might 
concentrate on what others have done to reduce the 
problem. You might have to repeat your search as you 
narrow down the material you are seeking or as you need 
to find out more about particular aspects of a promising 
response. So, don't expect to complete your search all 
in one sitting. Instead, you might have to return to your 
computer or the library several times before you have 
assembled the information you need. 


 

The Best Place to Start 

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series is the best place to look 
for background research on a variety of common crime and disorder 
problems. Each guide summarizes the best available research on the 
causes of a particular problem, and also provides a blueprint for 
analyzing and responding to the problem. Guides have been published 
on such topics as drug dealing in privately-owned apartment 
complexes, thefts of and from cars in parking facilities, and burglary 
of single-family homes. Guides are continually being produced, and 
are available online through the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing 
at www.popcenter.org and the Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 


Defining Your Problem 

You will greatly reduce the time spent searching for 
information if you tightly define your problem. Let us say 
that you are dealing with a rash of vehicle-related thefts 
in your town. An Internet search on "car theft" could 
yield hundreds of "hits" or sources. It would take too 
long to scan through all these sources to find the ones 
most relevant to your particular problem. It is like a crime 
investigation with too many suspects, not too few! So it is 
important that you focus more tightly. What kind of car 
theft are you dealing with: Is it both thefts of cars and 
from cars, or is it just theft of cars? Try to focus on the 
largest component of your problem. If it is theft of cars, 
where are these cars being stolenfrom the downtown 
area, from the suburbs or from university campuses? If 
from downtown, are most of the thefts from the street or 
from parking lots? If from parking lots, are these public 
or private, or from surface lots or decks. And so on. 

Making your search too narrow (for example, "joyriding 
thefts from downtown lots at night,") might yield no 
useful literature because nobody has undertaken a study 
on precisely this topic. So even if this defines your 
problem exactly, you might have to broaden your search 
a little to find some relevant literature. For example, 
searches for "car thefts from parking lots" or "juvenile 
joyriding" might yield articles or reports that begin to help 
you understand your problem and begin to suggest some 
possible responses, even if most of what you find is not 
directly relevant. 



There are few firm rules about defining your problem 
to make your search efficient, though it is usually 
best to begin with a tight definition and broaden this 
progressively until you have begun to find relevant 
material. 

Formulating Search Terms 

Having defined your problem clearly, you will then need 
to formulate a search term for use in searching online 
databases and website search boxes for relevant material. 
Make a list of words that come to mind when you think 
of your topic. These will be the "keywords" that you 
use for your search term. In doing this, think about 
words with similar or identical meanings. Think also 
about alternative spellings, especially British spellings 
("behaviour" instead of "behavior," "organisation" instead 
of "organization," etc). 

Your search will probably be an evolving process. You 
may need to revise your search term as you find out more 
about your topic. Keep a record of your search terms 
(with words or phrases exactly as entered), the name of 
the databases that you used, and the date of your search. 
Don't waste time figuring out the same thing twice! 

Sometimes a search can be overly general (which results in 
too many hits) or overly specific (too few hits). To fine-
tune your search, you can use: (1) phrases, (2) Boolean 
operators, and (3) truncation symbols: 

 
Phrases. Phrase searching is searching for words adjacent 
to each other (e.g., automobile theft; problem-oriented 
policing; crime prevention). Searching for phrases is a 

powerful technique for focusing precisely on the topic 
you want, because it excludes records with separated 
and irrelevant keywords. Not all electronic resources, 
however, support phrase searching. 

 
Boolean operators. You can use AND, OR and NOT 
(sometimes called Boolean operators) to link your 
search words together (use capitals for these operators). 
These will help you narrow or broaden your search to 
retrieve the information you need quickly. 
 
Using AND: If you have a search term that is too 
general, you can append several terms together using 
AND (e.g., police AND prevention AND burglary). 
By stringing key terms together, you can further 
define your search and reduce the number of results. 
 
Using NOT: To narrow a search, you can link words 
together by using NOT (e.g., burglary NOT robbery). 
This will help you to filter out specific topics you do 
not wish included as part of your search. 
 
Using OR: To broaden a search, you can link 
synonyms together by using OR (e.g., cars OR 
automobiles OR vehicles). Linked by this operator, 
your words are searched simultaneously and 
independently of each other. When using both OR 
and AND in a search, use parentheses to enclose the 
words you are linking with OR. Examples would be: 
 
burglary AND (police OR law enforcement), and 
 
(juveniles OR teenagers) AND joyriding. 
 
Truncation symbols: Most databases allow use of a 
truncation symbol that is used to pick up words with 
variant spellings. The most commonly used symbols 
are * and ?. For example: burglar* will find burglar, 
burglars, burglary and burglaries. 


The websites listed in the next section (and many others) 
have a search box, usually on the home page, which helps 
you find relevant material quickly. In some cases, the 
search box comes with a tutorial or specific instructions in 
its use, which you should always read. 

Refining Your Search 

As you begin to search, you may find that you are getting 
either too many hits (your search is too broad) or too few 
(your search is too narrow). In these cases you will want to 
broaden or narrow your search. 

Broadening Your Search 

 
Try using synonyms and think of keywords that are more 
general. 
 
Try using fewer keywords. The more words you use, the 
more specific you become, and the fewer number of hits 
you will get. If you use fewer keywords your focus is 
widened, and you should get more hits. 
 
If you do need to search using a number of words, search 
them individually (or possibly in pairs) first. 
 
Use the "or" operator and truncation * symbol. 
 
Use lower case, even for proper nouns. This will broaden 
your search. 
Narrowing Your Search 

 
Be more specific. Evaluate your keywords and synonyms. 
Can you use more specific words to describe your topic? 
 
Capitalize when appropriate. Some search engines are case 
sensitive. Use appropriate capitalization when you need to 
focus your search precisely. 
 
Use AND. The Boolean operator "and" will limit your 
search to only those occurrences that include both terms, 
not just one or the other. 
 
Use phrases. 
 
Try using NOT. The Boolean operator "not" narrows the 
search by excluding certain words. 

Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 

 

The best way to begin is by visiting the websites described 
in this section. These websites are the ones most likely 
to contain the kind of information you are seeking. Not 
everything on the websites will be of equal interest to you, 
and the descriptions focus on the sections that you are 
most likely to find useful. If you find nothing of relevance 
on these websites, it is unlikely that a more detailed search 
of the Internet from your computer at home, or the 
one at work, will yield much useful information, and it 
may be time for you to visit a library or get some expert 
help. Before doing that, however, it might just be worth 
undertaking a general search on the Internet using Google 
or other search engines, and also searching the electronic 
archives of some of the major newspapers. The next 
section of the guide tells you how to do this. 

You will save time by visiting the websites in the order 
they are listed here. You may be tempted to skip the 
Australian and U.K. websites, but this would be a 
mistake. Problem-oriented policing is practiced widely in 
both these countries and many of the crime problems 
are similar to those in the United States. In fact, crime 
occurring, let us say in San Francisco, may be more like 
that in Sydney, Australia, than in a small town in Louisiana 
or Tennessee. It is also the case that more research has 
been conducted in the United Kingdom on specific crime 
problems than in the United States because of different 
criminological traditions in the two countries. 



A Word of Warning 

Even with a high speed connection, you may experience 
numerous problems in connecting to websites, finding your way 
around them and locating and downloading documents that 
you know to be there. (Always check the number of pages to 
be downloaded.) Websites vary greatly in their ease of use and 
how regularly they are updated and maintained. A good website 
can deteriorate and a bad one can improve. Many are constantly 
being redesigned to improve thembut not always successfully. 
The Internet is also prone to many unexplained glitches and if 
you cannot gain access to a website or have a frustrating visit 
on a particular occasion, it can be worth trying again on another 
occasion. 

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing 
(www.popcenter.org) 

Your first Internet stop should be the Center for Problem-
Oriented Policing, which is a website developed with 
funding assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Service (the 
"COPS Office") specifically to help police undertake 
problem-oriented policing projects. The website is 
managed by the same organization that produces the 
Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series for the COPS Office. 
All the guides produced to date can be found here, as well 
as on the COPS website (see below). The website also 
has direct links to all the other websites discussed in the 
section, as well as a number of others. 

 When you are searching for 
information on the World Wide Web, 
you may find "links" or "hyperlinks" 
that you can click on that will take 
you directly to another relevant 
document on the Web or to another 
place within the same document 
where more information related to 
the word in question can be found. 

The first thing you should do is to check whether a 
guide already exists on your topic. If it does not, you 
should look at any guides that deal with related topics. 
For example, say your problem is one of drug dealing 


in a public housing complex. Assuming no guide on 
this topic has been written, but guides are available on 
"Drug dealing in privately-owned apartment complexes" 
and "Drug dealing in open-air markets," reading these 
guides might be helpful, even though they are not directly 
focused on your problem. 

You should pay particular attention to the "References" 
listed near the end to see if there are books or articles 
you would like to read. Many of the references listed in 
the guides are available on the website in .pdf format 
and you can read and download these as well. If they are 
not on the website, this is because the copyright owners 
of the article have withheld permission for it to be 
made available on the website. (See "Visiting a Library" 
below for information about obtaining the article in this 
eventuality.) 

It is important that you look at other sections of the 
website, which contain a wealth of other articles and 
reports. Especially important is the section on "POP 
Projects and Awards." This section contains hundreds of 
reports of problem-oriented policing projects submitted 
over the years for the annual problem-oriented policing 
awards in the United States (the Herman Goldstein Award 
for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing) and the 
United Kingdom (the Tilley Awards). The website's search 
engine allows you to search these awards by topic, so 
you can quickly identify the projects that are likely to be 
relevant and read or download the reports. 



National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) 
Abstracts Database 
(http://abstractsdb.ncjrs.org) 

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service is an 
information clearinghouse created by the U.S. Department 
of Justice for people involved in research, policy, and 
practice related to criminal and juvenile justice, and drug 
control. The "NCJRS Abstracts Database" is the largest 
collection of criminal justice abstracts in the world. It 
contains summaries of over 180,000 U.S. and international 
publications, including federal, state, and local government 
reports, books, research reports, journal articles, 
audiovisual presentations, and unpublished research. It 
contains far more material than the website for the Center 
for Problem-Oriented Policing, though only a small 
proportion of the abstracts deal directly with problem-
oriented policing or specific crime problems. Even so, it is 
likely to contain material that will be useful to you. 

In some cases the abstracts are linked to the full text 
of the article or report, which you can read online or 
download and print. Where reports and articles are not 
online, some are available free of charge. Many others 
are available for a small fee. This service is efficientit 
generally takes no more than two to three weeks to receive 
the material. (It usually helps to refer to the NCJ number 
for each publication you want to order.) 

The website includes an "online tutorial" on how to search 
the abstracts, which will save you time and help you find 
your material in an efficient way. 



The Home Office, United Kingdom 
(www.homeoffice.gov.uk) 

The Home Office is the government department 
responsible for U.K. internal affairs. It is roughly 
equivalent to the U.S. Department of Justice and has 
overall governmental responsibility for crime matters 
and the criminal justice system, including the police. As 
you might expect this is a large website with many links 
and, while you can browse the many sections, it is best to 
start with a "quick search" using the search box on the 
home page. You can ask it to search "any words" in your 
search term, "all words" or "exact phrase." Results will be 
delivered from three sources: 

 the Crime Reduction Website (see below), 
 the Research and Statistics Series published by the 
Home Office, and 
 the Criminal Justice website of the Home Office. 
You can choose to limit your search to any of these three 
sources. A small summary is given for each entry and you 
can click on the title to take you to the full document. 

A useful section of the website for you to browse is 
"Research and Statistics." The Home Office sponsors or 
conducts a large amount of high quality research, much of 
it dealing with policing and specific crime problems. 



Crime Reduction Website, Home Office, United 
Kingdom 
(www.crimereduction.gov.uk) 

The Crime Reduction website was established by the 
Home Office to provide a single point of access to 

U.K. government documents, statistics and legislation 
relating to crime reduction topics. The search box on the 
general Home Office website will allow you to search this 
website, but you should browse its two most important 
sections the "toolkits" and the "mini-sites." The toolkits 
are similar in concept to the Problem-Oriented Guides for 
Police Series, and are designed to provide practical guidance 
in dealing with the particular topic covered; the mini-sites 
bring together key information and new material on topics 
of concern to the government. The topics covered under 
both these sections are continually being expanded. The 
categories of crime covered in the toolkits include: vehicle 
crime, street crime and robbery, residential burglary, rural 
crime, racial crime and harassment, trafficking in people, 
arson, business and retail crime, and public transport 
crime. Those covered under the mini-sites include: 
domestic violence, street crime and victimization of 
college students. 

Australian Institute of Criminology 
(www.aic.gov.au) 

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is 
Australia's national organization for the study of crime 
and criminal justice and for the dissemination of 
information on these subjects. It conducts and sponsors 
research, holds conferences and maintains a fine library. 
The website contains many full-text documents and 
reports. The best way to begin is by searching from the 


opening page. A short description is provided of each 
entry yielded by the search. By clicking on the title, you 
can get a fuller description and you can also download 
full-text copies of many of the documents. The website 
also allows you to search the library catalog, which will 
yield material not accessible through the home page search 
box. However, little more than the title of the document 
is listed so this will be of limited value to you. 

Other Useful Websites 

You may not have found much information directly 
relevant to your problem at the five recommended 
websites and you may wish to explore others. Those listed 
here sometimes contain useful material not available 
elsewhere and are worth a visit. 

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 
(COPS Office) 
(www.cops.usdoj.gov) 

The COPS Office provides grants to state and local 
law enforcement agencies to hire and train community 
policing officers, acquire and deploy new crime-fighting 
technologies, and develop and test innovative policing 
strategies. The website allows you to download or order 
COPS publications that deal with problem-oriented 
policing. These can be downloaded or ordered from the 
website. The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series can be 
downloaded from this site. The COPS website has links to 
its network of Regional Community Policing Institutes. 



www.cops.usdoj.gov 
The COPS Office website is a good resource for problem-oriented policing. 

Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) 
(www.policeforum.org) 

PERF is a national membership organization of 
police executives from large law enforcement agencies. 
Its mission is to improve policing and advance 
professionalism through research and involvement in 
public policy debate. The website may be entered as a 
guest or as a member. It contains POPNet, a searchable 
database of problem-oriented policing projects, many 
of which are also included in the "Goldstein Awards" 
on the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing website. 
"Publications and Information Services" lists publications 
for sale from the "online store" and "public publications" 
that may be downloaded free. 

Community Policing Consortium 
(www.communitypolicing.org) 

The Community Policing Consortium, funded by the 
COPS Office, is a training and technical partnership of 
five of the nation's leading law enforcement organizations: 
the International Association of Chiefs of Police; the 
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement 
Executives; the National Sheriffs' Association; the Police 
Executive Research Forum; and the Police Foundation. 
Its mission is to deliver community policing training and 
technical assistance to police departments and sheriffs' 
offices. The website's "electronic library" contains 
community policing publications, some of which can 
be downloaded. It also allows you look for information 
in back issues of three of the consortium's newsletters: 
"Sheriff Times," "Community Policing Exchange" and 
"Community Links." 

Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science 
(www.jdi.ucl.ac.uk) 

The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at London 
University is devoted specifically to reducing crime 
through teaching, research and public policy analysis. 
The website lists "Crime Science: Short Reports" for 
practitioners and policymakers concerned with finding 
ways to reduce crime and disorder. "Ad Hoc Publications" 
covers a general range of research from the Institute. 
Some publications are available in full text, while for 
others only a brief summary is provided. 



Police Foundation 
(www.policefoundation.org) 

The Police Foundation conducts a wide range of research 
projects on a variety of policing issues. The website lists 
the Foundation's publications under "List and Order 
Form." A short summary of each publication is provided. 
Many of the publications can be downloaded free of 
charge while others can be ordered for a small fee. The 
"Ideas in American Policing" series and "Crime Mapping 
News" are also in this section. 

International Association of Chiefs of Police 
(www.theiacp.org) 

The largest police association in the world, IACP is 
dedicated to advancing professional policing. The most 
useful section of the website is "Publications," which 
provides current and back issues of "Police Chief 
Magazine. Many of the articles are available in full text. 
A search capability is provided for the periodical, but it is 
limited to searching only recent issues of the magazine. 
A second useful section is "Research Center Documents," 
which contains the full text of many recent reports of the 
IACP. 

RAND (Public Safety and Justice Center) 
(www.rand.org/psj) 

The RAND Public Safety and Justice center conducts 
research and analysis on various public safety issues, 
including: illegal immigration and border control; domestic 
counter-terrorism, terrorism preparedness, threat and 
vulnerability management; drug use and prevention; 


violence prevention; and a wide range of issues relevant 
to law enforcement. Website publications are arranged by 
category, or one can search by specific words. Many of the 
reports can be downloaded free. 

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 
(www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/leb.htm) 

"FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin" is published monthly by 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The website contains 
full text of all issues. No search function is available, 
but you may have found references to articles from this 
journal when you have used other indexing or abstracting 
services. 

California Commission on Peace Officer Standards 
& Training (POST) Library (www.post.ca.gov/) 

The POST Library was established to assist the 
Commission, staff, and California peace officers in their 
research efforts. The POST Library database contains 
citations and brief abstracts for over 48,000 articles dating 
from the early 1960s. Where possible, links to the full 
text are included. Keyword searching is possible in the 
abstract/table-of-contents field. Many of the Command 
College projects ("futures studies" that are similar to 
masters' theses) are available in full text on the Internet. 
Books are loaned directly to POST staff only, but others 
may borrow materials via interlibrary loan through their 
local library. 


Expanding Your Internet Search From Your Home or Office 

Your search of websites is likely to have produced useful 
articles and reports that you have been able to download 
and read. It is also likely to have alerted you to the 
existence of other articles and reports that you were not 
able to obtain on the Internet. This is the point when you 
will need to visit a library (see the next section). On the 
other hand, you might have found very little of value or 
you may wish to spend just a little more time searching 
from your home computer or the one at work. To make 
the best use of your time, there are three things you 
might consider doing: (1) making a general search of the 
Internet using Google or similar search engine, (2) searching 
the online archives of some large newspapers, and (3) 
searching some online databases. 

Searching the Internet Using Google 
(www.google.com) 

Google is considered the premier search tool on the 
Internet, featuring not only the best web search engine, 
but also many additional features such as the ability to 
search .pdf files. To enter a query into Google, just type 
in a few descriptive words and hit your "enter" key (or 
click on the Search button) for a list of relevant web 
pages. These tend to be listed in order of importance as 
calculated by the number of links to the site. 

 The website's uniform resource 
locator (URL), which is a standard 
way of identifying website addresses, 
provides useful information about 
the provenance of the site and can 
help you evaluate the information 
it contains. The suffixes you are 
most likely to encounter are: .edu 
= American educational institution; 
.org = non-profit organization; .gov 
= organization of the American 
government; .com = commercial 
enterprise; .ac = overseas academic 
institution. The URL may make use 
of a two-letter country suffix. Those 
you are most likely to encounter are: 
.au = Australia; .ca = Canada; .nl = 
Netherlands; .se = Sweden; .uk = 
United Kingdom. 

Because Google only returns web pages that contain all 
the words in your query, narrowing your search is as 
simple as adding more words to the search terms that 
you have already entered. Your new query will return a 


smaller subset of the pages Google found for your original 
"too-broad" query. Search for phrases by enclosing them 
in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes 
("problem-oriented policing") will appear together in 
all results exactly as you have entered them. Google also 
supports the OR operator. To retrieve pages that include 
either word A or word B, use an uppercase OR between 
terms (e.g., auto OR cars OR vehicles). 

Google has released a new search tool called Google Scholar 
(www.scholar.google.com) that enables you to search 
scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed articles, 
books, and technical reports. A search might lead you to 
a citation for an article or book (which you will have to 
obtain from a library) or sometimes to a full text report. 

Another Word of Warning 

Unlike scholarly books and journal articles, websites are seldom 
reviewed or refereed. You need to be critical of the information 
you use when it comes from the Web, because anyone can make 
a website that looks expert. In general, rely more heavily on 
those sites sponsored by colleges and universities, government 
agencies, and professional organizations. 

Online Newspaper Archives 

Newspapers sometimes print stories about new forms of 
crime or accounts of police innovations in controlling 
a particular problem. Indeed, these stories and accounts 
might reach the newspapers before they reach the 
professional or academic journals. Newspapers, especially 
those with a national readership and high standards of 
reporting, can therefore sometimes be the best source 
of up-to-date information. These newspapers generally 



provide free online access to their archives of past issues, 
although you may need to register first. Some examples 
are the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, 
the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune. 

Online Databases Requiring a Fee 

There are some useful databases that can be searched 
from your office or home computer, but to use them 
properly you will have to pay a fee. This can sometimes 
be a useful alternative to visiting a library (where you can 
often access the databases without charge). 

 
Questia (www.questia.com) is an online library offering 
the full text and images of scholarly books, journals, 
magazines, and newspaper articles in the humanities 
and social sciences. You can search the collection at 
no cost, but if you need access to the full text of any 
document you must purchase a subscription to the 
service. 
 
Ingenta (www.ingenta.com) is a searchable database 
of more than 11 million citations from over 25,000 
publications. Electronic, fax, and pay-per-view 
document delivery is available for many of the articles. 
 
PsycINFO (www.apa.org/psycinfo) contains abstracts 
of journal articles, dissertations, technical reports, and 
English-language chapters and books in psychology 
and related disciplines such as sociology, education, 
law, psychiatry, and anthropology. It includes coverage 
of several criminal justice periodicals. It is available 
in college or university libraries and in large public 
libraries, but it also offers a pay-as-you-go option that 
provides access to the database for a 24-hour period. 
During that time period you may view, print, and 
download records. Because PsycINFO is an abstract 


database, it does not have the full text of the articles. 
You may be able to purchase some of the articles for a 
fee, but you will probably need to visit your local library 
for assistance in locating the articles you have selected. 


Getting Advice 

You might find that seeking help and advice from some 
other people can greatly speed up your search. Among 
those to consider are: 

Crime Analysts 

If your department is large enough to employ crime 
analysts, they might help you search the Internet for useful 
material. This is particularly the case if a crime analyst has 
been assigned to help with your project. Crime analysts 
are generally comfortable with using computers and are 
accustomed to searching for material on the Internet. 
Recent manuals and other publications for crime analysts 
have recognized the important role they can play in 
researching problems for a police department. 

 See Velasco (2005) and Weisel 
(2005). 

Other Police Departments 

"Cold calling" other police departments is rarely 
productive, but if your search has revealed that a 
particular police department has tackled a similar problem, 
it is worth calling that department. Try to speak to the 
officers originally involved in the project and try to get a 
copy of the report if one was produced. 

Local College or University Faculty 

If your local college or university has a criminal justice 
program, you might be able to obtain helpful advice on 
your problem from a faculty member. Do not expect 
the professor to spend much time on your problem, but 
he or she might be able to suggest sources for you to 
explore. Look at the institution's website to find out as 
much as possible about the interests of the faculty before 



attempting to contact anyone. If you call and leave a 
message, be sure that the professor can reach you easily. 
For anything more than an hour or so of consultation, 
the faculty member might expect compensation, although 
some state universities consider assistance to government 
agencies within that state to be part of their faculty's 
regular service mission. 

National Experts 

A particular expert's name might appear repeatedly 
during your Internet search and it can sometimes be 
helpful to contact that person by email to ask for advice. 
Remember that these experts are likely to be very busy 
people. You should contact them only when you have 
exhausted other possibilities, and you should only ask 
them for a specific piece of information that they can 
provide quickly. Experts cannot be expected to summarize 
their publications for you. They will not reply to general 
queries such as, "Any information you can provide about 
my problem will be gratefully received." When asking 
for references to useful articles, list those that you have 
found most helpful to date. The expert will then be able 
to tell at a glance whether you have missed anything 
really important, and he or she is more likely to supply 
the key reference. Do not expect to engage an expert in 
a prolonged email correspondence unless he or she has 
invited you to email again. 


Visiting a Library 

As explained above, you can obtain some articles and 
reports not available on the Internet through the NCJRS. 
In some cases you may be able to call or write to the 
agency or organization that issued the report for a copy. 
But in most cases, the only practical method of obtaining 
an article or report not available on the Internet is by 
visiting a public library or, better still, a university library. 
Most of them, except the smallest public libraries, have 
professional librarians to help you locate material and 
online subscriptions to information sources not available 
to you at home or work. Since the services available at 
public libraries and university or college libraries are 
different, these are discussed separately below. 

Public Libraries 

The public library serving your town or county might be 
closer than the nearest university library and has the great 
advantage of being open to any member of the public. 
The librarians are also likely to be especially helpful to 
local police. However, do not expect to find the books or 
articles you want to read on the shelves of your public 
library, even if it serves a large city. The material is usually 
too specialized for a general readership and to find it you 
will usually have to go to a college or university library. 
What you can expect to get at any reasonably large 
public library is personal help from the librarians with 
your search. You can also expect to find three important 
resources: 


 

 
Computers with high speed connections to the Internet. High 
speed connections make searching for and downloading 
material much easier and less frustrating. Unless your 
home computer or the one you use at work has a high 
speed connection, you might find it more efficient to 
use those at the public library. 
 
Subscriptions to online databases. Many public libraries 
carry subscriptions to some useful online databases, 
particularly ProQuest, Ebsco and InfoTrac: 
 
ProQuest is a Web-based information service providing 
access to a number of databases covering various 
subject disciplines. Some of the databases included 
are ABI/Informal Global, Social Science Plus, 
Criminal Justice Periodical Index, newspapers, etc. 
The service provides citations, abstracts, and some 
complete (full text) items from magazines, journals, 
and newspapers covering all subject areas. Not all 
libraries subscribe to all of the databases that are part 
of the ProQuest group, so you will need to see what 
databases are provided by each individual library. 
If you are fortunate enough to have access to the 
Criminal Justice Periodical Index (CJPI), this should 
be your database of choice. CJPI offers coverage 
of 59 criminal justice titles, as well as indexing 
and abstracts for another 140 relevant U.S. and 
international journals. 
 
Ebsco provides "Academic Search Premier," a multidisciplinary database that includes abstracts and 
indexing from more than 4,000 scholarly publications 
covering a wide field of academic endeavor. Full text 
is provided for many of the articles. This source also 
includes indexing for several major U.S. newspapers. 



 
InfoTrac is an electronic resource that provides 
access to more than 8,500 periodicalsfrom the New 
York Times to general interest magazines, business 
and technology publications, and law and academic 
journals. 
Once you have obtained a library card, you might be able 
to gain access to the library resources from your home 
computer, including access to these and other databases. 

 
Interlibrary loan. This service allows participating 
libraries to obtain most books, articles or reports that 
you might need by requesting a copy from the nearest 
library possessing the material. You will be required 
to complete an interlibrary loan request form that the 
library will supply. This form requires the title of the 
work, the author, publisher, place of publication and 
date. If you are requesting a journal article, you will 
need to supply volume and page numbers. In most 
cases it takes about two weeks to obtain the material, 
but rarer material can take up to six weeks. The library 
will usually notify you when the material has arrived 
and you will have to collect it. Loans are not usually 
renewable and can be kept a maximum of one or two 
weeks. 

 It can be difficult to borrow copies 
of dissertations and some reference 
books. 

University or College Libraries 

Unless you are enrolled as a student, you cannot always 
gain access to these libraries. You might expect to be 
more warmly received at a state college or university than 
at a private institution, but libraries vary greatly in their 
access policies and it is always worth going there in person 
and asking if you might be allowed to use the library. In 



some cases, you may be able to become a "Friend of the 
Library" for a nominal fee, which will allow you to borrow 
books and access other services of the library. In other 
cases, you might be granted certain privileges but not 
others. For example, you might be allowed access to the 
books and journals, but might not be allowed to make use 
of the library's interlibrary loan service. 

 
The library's collection. The articles or books you want 
to read might be held in the library's collection. This 
is much more likely to be the case if the college or 
university has a criminal justice program, especially one 
at the graduate level. Even then, however, the library 
might not hold copies of lesser-known books and many 
reports. The library's card or electronic catalog will 
help you find the journal or book if the library holds it, 
but it is important that you have the following details: 
exact title of the article or book, the full name of the 
author(s), and the year of publication. 
When the college or university has a criminal justice 
program, ask the librarian to tell you where the books and 
journals are shelved that are used mostly by the criminal 
justice faculty and students. An hour or two browsing 
these shelves might turn up useful material. If the 
librarian is a criminal justice specialist, he or she might be 
able to direct you to the most productive sources. 

 
Online resources. You can expect the college or university 
library to have full subscriptions to the databases 
mentioned above that you can access either from 
home on limited fee-paying basis or from a large 
public library, including PsycINFO. Another valuable 
online resource available at most college and university 
libraries is SocioFile, which indexes approximately 2,300 


journals from 55 countries. It covers sociological topics 
such as alcohol and drug abuse, counseling, crime, law, 
public administration, public affairs and violence.

 
Criminal Justice Abstracts. A very important resource 
is online access to Criminal Justice Abstracts (CJA), 
but you are only likely to find this at colleges and 
universities with a criminal justice program. CJA 
provides comprehensive coverage of the major 
journals in criminology and related disciplines, 
extensive coverage of books, and access to reports 
from government and nongovernmental agencies from 
1968 to the present. It is prepared in cooperation with 
the Don M. Gottfredson Library of Criminal Justice 
of Rutgers University. Topics include crime trends, 
prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, 
police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing. CJA is 
available in both a print edition from Sage Publications 
and an online version from Cambridge Scientific 
Abstracts. The online version is much larger than the 
print version. 
Compared with NCJRS abstracts, CJA focuses more on 
the criminology and criminal justice literature, and as 
such provides greater coverage of academic journals, 
nongovernmental research, and scholarly books. NCJRS 
Abstracts tends to focus more on policy issues related to 
the U.S. government, and it provides more coverage of
government-sponsored research and the less-academic 
magazine literature.


Evaluating Your Primary Sources of Information 

Though your search may yield information from a 
wide variety of different sources, your primary sources 
of useful information are likely to be: (1) articles by 
researchers who have studied the problem you are facing, 
and (2) reports of police projects dealing with the 
problem. This section is intended to help you read and 
evaluate these two sources. 

Academic Articles 

Unless you are dealing with an extremely common 
problem, do not expect to find more than a few 
academic articles directly relevant to your topic. 
Academic criminologists tend to be more interested in 
crime and delinquency in general than the very specific 
forms of crime that are typically the focus of problem-
oriented policing projects. Criminologists also tend to 
be more interested in "distant" causes of crimesuch 
as social disadvantage, psychological impediments and 
dysfunctional familiesthan in the "near" causes of a 
problem, which include situational factors such as poor 
security or lack of surveillance. As a police officer, you 
can do little about the distant causes, but you may be able 
to alter the situational factors. Consequently, even when 
you find academic articles dealing with your problem, you 
might find that the causal factors they identify will provide 
you with little help in developing an effective response. 

Academic articles follow a fairly standard format designed 
to help readers decide quickly how relevant the article is to 
their interests. Most articles begin with an abstract. This 


 
is usually a single paragraph, which includes information 
about the data used for the study and a summary of the 
main findings. The abstract should tell whether you want 
to look more closely at the article. If so, go to the end of 
the article and read the "Summary," "Discussion" and/or 
"Conclusions." Only if the article seems valuable need 
you read more. Even if it is valuable, you may not need to 
read the literature review at the beginning of the article 
or the methodological sections dealing with data, analysis, 
and results. On the other hand, when the article is not 
directly relevant to your needs, you might still find useful 
material listed in the "References" at the end, which you 
might try to find and read. 

Reports of Police Projects 

Again, unless you are dealing with a very common 
problem, do not expect to find more than a few highly 
relevant police projects. The greatest limitation of 
those you do find is likely to be that claims of success 
frequently have to be treated with a considerable 
skepticism. Rarely are projects properly evaluated, with 
comparisons of crime data before-and-after the project, 
or with crime data for a "control" group or area not 
included in the project. Even some projects that have 
received Goldstein or Tilley awards (see the section above 
on Center for Problem-Oriented Policing) have not been 
evaluated in full accordance with social science research 
standards. Further, you should beware that a response that 
has worked in a particular town or neighborhood might 
not automatically work in yours. This could be because of 
specific circumstances that make your situation different 
from earlier ones. Or it could be that the effectiveness of 
a specific response depends partly on the other responses 

 For more details on the 
requirements of an evaluation see 
the POP Guide on Assessing Responses 
to Problems: An Introductory Guide for 
Police Problem Solvers.



introduced at the same time. This does not mean that it 
is a waste of time looking at what other police agencies 
have done. To the contrary, this past experience is always 
an important source of ideas about what might be helpful 
in your situation and what might not. But in reaching 
decisions about the responses you want to implement, 
you must always weigh the information obtained from any 
particular project together with all the other information 
you find. 


Using the Information You Have Found 

Make a copy of any highly relevant material you find 
in the course of your search because you may want 
to consult it repeatedly. Highlight particularly relevant 
passages or, better still, stick a "post-it" label on the page 
with a brief note about the topic. You can then find the 
relevant passages without having to flip through the entire 
article or report, and you can easily remove these labels 
when you have finished dealing with the topic. 

Understanding Your Problem 

One of the principal objectives of conducting a literature 
search is to learn what others have discovered about 
the causes of the kind of problem you are tackling, 
particularly its "near" causes (those factors that most 
immediately contributed to the problem). Knowing what 
they have found will be useful to you in analyzing your 
own problem. Your analysis can check whether factors 
that have been implicated in the past also hold true in 
your situation. 

It is only when you have achieved an understanding of 
your problem that you can expect to identify effective 
responses. You will know you have achieved this 
understanding when you are able to provide answers to 
the five "W" and one "H" questions: 

 For a fuller discussion of these 
questions, see Clarke and Eck (2003). 

 
Who is involved? Are the offenders juveniles? Juvenile 
gangs? Organized criminals? Addicts? Opportunists? 
Ordinary members of the public? 



 
What exactly do they do? The essence of problem-oriented 
policing is to focus on a very specific problem. This is 
because specific problems demand specific solutions. 
Answering this question helps you to identify the 
specific problem that you wish to focus on. 
 
Why do they do this? For theft the motive will be obvious, 
but much can be learned about specific motivation from 
the nature of the goods stolen. Motives for many other 
expressive or violent crimes may be more obscure. 
 
Where do they do this? Try to describe the usual setting. 
Sometimes the sequence of events takes place in several 
locations. For example, a car might be stolen from a 
parking lot, moved to a garage for stripping of valuable 
parts, and then dumped on wasteland. Understanding 
the physical setting in which problems occur often leads 
to opportunities to alter that physical setting. 
 
When do they do this? Householders or car owners might 
know only that their car was stolen "sometime during 
the weekend." For many interpersonal crimes, however, 
the victim will be able to report precisely when the 
crime occurred, which may permit inferences about 
such matters as whether the streets were deserted. 
 
How do they carry out the crime? Crime is a process, with 
several steps from initiation to completion. At each 
step the offender must make decisions about working 
with others and about employing specific knowledge 
and tools. These decisions are heavily influenced by 
the offender's need to complete the crime quickly, 
with minimum effort, and without being caught. The 

details of the situation are crucial to these decisions. 
To take a simple example, car thieves are more likely to 
avoid parking lots with strong lighting, closed-circuit 
television (CCTV) cameras and full-time attendants 
than ones without these forms of security. 
When you can answer these sorts of questions with 
reasonable certainty, you will have developed a hypothesis 
about your problem. A hypothesis is a statement that 
explains why the problem is occurring. The hypothesis 
points you in the direction of certain responses and away 
from others. 

Identifying Responses 

Keep a record of responses you identify by constructing a 
summary grid similar to that found at the end of each of 
the problem-specific guides in the Problem-Oriented Guides 
for Police Series. For each response, note the prime source 
and explain how the response works, the conditions under 
which it works best, and any special considerations, such 
as costs or legal requirements. Your grid should have one 
row for each response and five columns as below: 

Response Source How It Works Works Best If Considerations 
1 
2



This table will be a summary of the most valuable results 
of your search. You might need more detailed information 
for the responses you believe will be most effective in 
your situation. For example, if you think you might want 
to install CCTV cameras to improve surveillance, you 
might need information about the different CCTV systems 
on the market, their costs and their relative advantages 
and disadvantages. Returning to your computer and the 
library one more time should help you find the facts you 
need and enable you to profit from the experience of 
others. 

 The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police now 
include a Response Guide Series that presents 
detailed information about commonly used responses. 

Ten Tips For Researching a Problem 

1. Check the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series. 
2. Browse www.popcenter.org, especially the Tilley and Goldstein awards. 
3. Browse www.crimereduction.gov.uk 
4. Try to get access to Criminal Justice Abstracts. 
5. Visit your local library and speak to a librarian. 
6. Whenever possible, use a computer with a high-speed Internet 
connection. 
7. Make copies of the best articles and reports you find. 
8. Look for additional material to read in the reference lists of any useful 
article. 
9. Develop a hypothesis about the causes of your problem. 
10. Organize information about responses in a summary grid. 


Conclusion 

The Internet and the development of online social 
science databases have made it much easier for you to 
find research and best practice that can help with your 
problem-oriented project. A few hours spent at the 
computer, and time spent in a nearby public or college 
library, can unearth a wealth of relevant material. For 
some problems that are new or rare, the haul might be 
more meager. And it is sometimes difficult to find your 
way around the Internet or locate the material in libraries. 
But it is always worth seeking to profit from the labors of 
others. Learning what they have discovered could jump-
start your efforts and save you valuable time later in your 
project. 


References 

Benamati, D., P. Schultze, A. Bouloukos, and G. Newman 
(1998). Criminal Justice Information: How To Find It, How 
To Use It. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press. 

Clarke, R. and J. Eck (2003). Become a Problem-Solving 
Crime Analyst. London: Jill Dando Institute of Crime 
Science, University College London. (Accessible at: 
www.jdi.ucl.ac.uk). 

Nelson, B. (1997). Criminal Justice Research in Libraries and on 
the Internet. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 

Velasco, M. (2005). "Practical Literature: What to Read 
and How to Read It." In C. Bruce, J. Cooper, and 

S. Hick (eds.), Exploring Crime Analysis: Readings in 
Essential Skills. Oakland Park, Kan.: International 
Association of Crime Analysts Press. 
Weisel, D. (2005). "Solving Crime and Disorder Problems 
Through Applied Research." In C. Bruce, J. Cooper, 
and S. Hick (eds.), Exploring Crime Analysis: Readings 
in Essential Skills. Oakland Park, Kan.: International 
Association of Crime Analysts Press. 


About the Authors 

Ronald V. Clarke 

Ronald V. Clarke is a professor at the School of Criminal Justice, 
Rutgers University. He previously headed the British government's 
criminological research department, where he had a significant 
role in developing situational crime prevention and the British 
Crime Survey. Clarke is the founding editor of Crime Prevention 
Studies, and his publications include Designing Out Crime (HMSO 
1980), The Reasoning Criminal (Springer-Verlag 1986), Business 
and Crime Prevention (Criminal Justice Press 1997), and Situational 
Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies (Harrow and Heston 1997). 
Together with Herman Goldstein, he has worked on problem-
oriented policing projects for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) 
Police Department. Since 1998, he has chaired the selection 
committee for the annual Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence 
in Problem-Oriented Policing. Clarke holds a docorate in 
psychology from the University of London. 

Phyllis A. Schultze 

Phyllis A. Schultze is the director of the Rutgers University Criminal 
Justice/NCCD library collection. She is co-author of Criminal Justice 
Information: How to Find It, How to Use It and served on the editorial 
board for the Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment (Sage 2002). 
Schultze earned a bachelors degree from Calvin College and a masters 
in library science from Rutgers University. She serves as co-chair 
of the World Criminal Justice Library Network and is a member of 
the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal 
Justice Sciences. 


Recommended Readings 

 A Police Guide to Surveying Citizens and Their 
Environments, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1993. This 
guide offers a practical introduction for police practitioners 
to two types of surveys that police find useful: surveying 
public opinion and surveying the physical environment. It 
provides guidance on whether and how to conduct cost-
effective surveys. 
 Assessing Responses to Problems: An 
Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers, 
by John E. Eck (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of 
Community Oriented Policing Services, 2001). This guide 
is a companion to the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series. 
It provides basic guidance to measuring and assessing 
problem-oriented policing efforts. 

 Conducting Community Surveys, by Deborah Weisel 
(Bureau of Justice Statistics and Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services, 1999). This guide, along with 
accompanying computer software, provides practical, basic 
pointers for police in conducting community surveys. The 
document is also available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs. 
 Crime Prevention Studies, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 
(Criminal Justice Press, 1993, et seq.). This is a series of 
volumes of applied and theoretical research on reducing 
opportunities for crime. Many chapters are evaluations of 
initiatives to reduce specific crime and disorder problems. 


 Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing:The 
1999 Herman Goldstein Award Winners. This 
document produced by the National Institute of Justice 
in collaboration with the Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services and the Police Executive Research Forum 
provides detailed reports of the best submissions to the 
annual award program that recognizes exemplary problem-
oriented responses to various community problems. A 
similar publication is available for the award winners from 
subsequent years. The documents are also available at www. 
ojp.usdoj.gov/nij. 
 Not Rocket Science? Problem-Solving and Crime 
Reduction, by Tim Read and Nick Tilley (Home Office 
Crime Reduction Research Series, 2000). Identifies and 
describes the factors that make problem-solving effective 
or ineffective as it is being practiced in police forces in 
England and Wales. 
 Opportunity Makes the Thief: Practical Theory 
for Crime Prevention, by Marcus Felson and Ronald V. 
Clarke (Home Office Police Research Series, Paper No. 98, 
1998). Explains how crime theories such as routine activity 
theory, rational choice theory and crime pattern theory 
have practical implications for the police in their efforts to 
prevent crime. 
 Problem Analysis in Policing, by Rachel Boba (Police 
Foundation, 2003). Introduces and defines problem 
analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis 
can be integrated and institutionalized into modern 
policing practices. 
 Problem-Oriented Policing, by Herman Goldstein 
(McGraw-Hill, 1990, and Temple University Press, 1990). 

Explains the principles and methods of problem-oriented 
policing, provides examples of it in practice, and discusses 
how a police agency can implement the concept. 

 Problem-Oriented Policing and Crime Prevention, 
by Anthony A. Braga (Criminal Justice Press, 2003). 
Provides a thorough review of significant policing research 
about problem places, high-activity offenders, and repeat 
victims, with a focus on the applicability of those findings 
to problem-oriented policing. Explains how police 
departments can facilitate problem-oriented policing by 
improving crime analysis, measuring performance, and 
securing productive partnerships. 
 Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the 
First 20 Years, by Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of 
Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 
2000). Describes how the most critical elements of 
Herman Goldstein's problem-oriented policing model have 
developed in practice over its 20-year history, and proposes 
future directions for problem-oriented policing. The report 
is also available at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 
 Problem-Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing in 
Newport News, by John E. Eck and William Spelman 
(Police Executive Research Forum, 1987). Explains the 
rationale behind problem-oriented policing and the 
problem-solving process, and provides examples of 
effective problem-solving in one agency. 
 Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing 
Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving 
Partnerships by Karin Schmerler, Matt Perkins, Scott 
Phillips, Tammy Rinehart and Meg Townsend. (U.S. 


Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services, 1998) (also available at www.cops.usdoj. 
gov). Provides a brief introduction to problem-solving, 
basic information on the SARA model and detailed 
suggestions about the problem-solving process. 

 Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case 
Studies, Second Edition, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 
(Harrow and Heston, 1997). Explains the principles and 
methods of situational crime prevention, and presents over 
20 case studies of effective crime prevention initiatives. 
 Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety Problems: 
Case Studies in Problem-Solving, by Rana Sampson 
and Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of 
Community Oriented Policing Services, 2000) (also available 
at www.cops.usdoj.gov). Presents case studies of effective 
police problem-solving on 18 types of crime and disorder 
problems. 
 Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook 
for Law Enforcement, by Timothy S. Bynum (U.S. 
Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services, 2001). Provides an introduction for 
police to analyzing problems within the context of 
problem-oriented policing. 
 Using Research: A Primer for Law Enforcement 
Managers, Second Edition, by John E. Eck and Nancy G. 
LaVigne (Police Executive Research Forum, 1994). Explains 
many of the basics of research as it applies to police 
management and problem-solving. 

Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides series: 

1. 
Assaults in and Around Bars. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-00-2 
2. 
Street Prostitution. Michael S. Scott. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-01-0 
3. 
Speeding in Residential Areas. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-02-9 
4. 
Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes. 
Rana Sampson. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-03-7 
5. 
False Burglar Alarms. Rana Sampson. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-04-5 
6. 
Disorderly Youth in Public Places. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-05-3 
7. 
Loud Car Stereos. Michael S. Scott. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-06-1 
8. 
Robbery at Automated Teller Machines. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-07-X 
9. 
Graffiti. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-08-8 
10. Thefts Of and From Cars in Parking Facilities. Ronald V. 
Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-09-6 
11. Shoplifting. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-10-X 
12. Bullying in Schools. Rana Sampson. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-11-8 
13. Panhandling. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-12-6 
14. Rave Parties. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-13-4 
15. Burglary of Retail Establishments. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-14-2 
16. Clandestine Drug Labs. Michael S. Scott. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-15-0 
17. Acquaintance Rape of College Students. Rana Sampson. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-16-9 
18. Burglary of Single-Family Houses. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 
2002. ISBN: 1-932582-17-7 
19. Misuse and Abuse of 911. Rana Sampson. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-18-5 


20. Financial Crimes Against the Elderly. 
Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-22-3 

21. Check and Card Fraud. Graeme R. Newman. 2003. 
ISBN: 1-932582-27-4 
22. Stalking. The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-30-4 
23. Gun Violence Among Serious Young Offenders. Anthony A. 
Braga. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-31-2 
24. Prescription Fraud. Julie Wartell and Nancy G. La Vigne. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-33-9 
25. Identity Theft. Graeme R. Newman. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-35-3 
26. Crimes Against Tourists. Ronald W. Glensor and Kenneth J. Peak. 
2004. ISBN: 1-932582-36-3 
27. Underage Drinking. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-39-8 
28. Street Racing. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-42-8 
29. Cruising. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-43-6 
30. Disorder at Budget Motels. Karin Schmerler. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-41-X 
31. 
Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets. Alex Harocopos and Mike 
Hough. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-45-2 
32. Bomb Threats in Schools. Graeme R. Newman. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-46-0 
33. Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-47-9 
34. Robbey of Taxi Drivers. Martha J. Smith. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-50-9 
Response Guides series: 

 
The Benefits and Consequences of Police Crackdowns. 
Michael S. Scott. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-24-X 

 
Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime: Should You Go 
Down This Road? Ronald V. Clarke. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-41-X 


Problem-Solving Tools series: 

 
Assessing Responses to Problems: An Introductory 
Guide for Police Problem-Solvers. John E. Eck. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-19-3 
 
Researching a Problem. Ronald V. Clarke and Phyllis 
A. Schultze. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-48-7 
Upcoming Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides 
Domestic Violence 
Mentally Ill Persons 
Student Party Disturbances on College Campuses 
Vandalism and Break-Ins at Schools 
Drunk Driving 
Bank Robbery 
Witness Intimidation 
Drive-by Shootings 
Runaway Juveniles 
Exploitation of Trafficked Women 
Disorderly Day Laborers in Public Places 
Child Pornography 
Crowd Control at Stadiums and Other Entertainment Venues 
Traffic Congestion Around Schools 

Problem-Solving Tools 

Analyzing Repeat Victimization 

Forming and Sustaining Problem-Solving Partnerships With 
Businesses 

Risky Facilities 

Using Offender Interviews to Inform Police Problem-Solving 



Response Guides 
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design 
Crime Prevention Publicity Campaigns 
Video Surveillance of Public Places 
Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems 

Other Related COPS Office Publications 

 
Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook 
for Law Enforcement. Timothy S. Bynum. 
 
Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the First 
20 Years. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
 
Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety Problems: 
Case Studies in Problem-Solving. Rana Sampson and 
Michael S. Scott. 2000. 
 
Community Policing, Community Justice, and 
Restorative Justice: Exploring the Links for the 
Delivery of a Balanced Approach to Public Safety. 
Caroline G. Nicholl. 1999. 

 
Toolbox for Implementing Restorative Justice and 
Advancing Community Policing. Caroline G. Nicholl. 
2000. 
 
Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing 
Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving 
Partnerships. Karin Schmerler, Matt Perkins, Scott 
Phillips, Tammy Rinehart and Meg Townsend. 1998. 
 
Bringing Victims into Community Policing. The 
National Center for Victims of Crime and the Police 
Foundation. 2002. 
 
Call Management and Community Policing. Tom 
McEwen, Deborah Spence, Russell Wolff, Julie Wartell 
and Barbara Webster. 2003. 


 
Crime Analysis in America. Timothy C. OShea and 
Keith Nicholls. 2003. 
 
Problem Analysis in Policing. Rachel Boba. 2003. 
 
Reducing Theft at Construction Sites: Lessons 
From a Problem-Oriented Project. Ronald V. Clarke 
and Herman Goldstein. 2003. 
 
The COPS Collaboration Toolkit: How to Build, 
Fix, and Sustain Productive Partnerships. Gwen 
O. Briscoe, Anna T. Laszlo and Tammy A. Rinehart. 
2001. 
 
The Law Enforcement Tech Guide: How to plan, 
purchase and manage technology (successfully!). 
Kelly J. Harris and William H. Romesburg. 2002. 

 
Theft From Cars in Center City Parking 
Facilities -A Case Study. Ronald V. Clarke and 
Herman Goldstein. 2003. 
For more information about the Problem-Oriented Guides for 
Police series and other COPS Office publications, please call 
the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770 or visit 
COPS Online at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 


For More InForMatIon: 

U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 
1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W. 
Washington, D.C. 20530 

To obtain details on COPS programs, call the 
COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770 

Visit COPS Online at the address listed below. 

e02052729 Created Date: April 11, 2005 
ISBN: 1-932582-48-7 
www.cops.usdoj.gov