U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

www.cops.usdoj.gov

R e s e a r c h i n g a 

P r o b l e m

by Ronald V. Clarke 

Phyllis A. Schultze

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Solving Tools Series

No. 2
www.PopCenter.org

Got a Problem? We’ve 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 

community, including:

• Web-enhanced versions of all currently available Guides

• Interactive training exercises

• Online access to research and police practices

• An online problem analysis module

Designed for police and those who work with them to 

address community problems, www.popcenter.org is a great 

resource in problem-oriented policing.

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
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

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Solving Tools Series

Guide No. 2

About the Problem-Solving Tools Series i

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 police–of whatever 

rank or assignment–who 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.
ii 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 iii

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. 
iv 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 v

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

About the Problem-Solving Tools Guide Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 Home Office, 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

Online Newspaper Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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

Contents vii
viii Researching a Problem

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 1

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 problemoriented 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: 

• 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. 

† See Weisel (in press) for a 

comprehensive treatment of analysis. 
2 Researching a Problem

• 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.

• 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 

† Comprehensive descriptions are 

provided by Benamati et al. (1998) 

and Nelson (1997). 
Introduction 3

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. 

• 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 

† Can be downloaded from www.

adobe.com
4 Researching a Problem

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 ProblemOriented 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. 
Introduction 5

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 7

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 stolen–from 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. 
8 Researching a Problem

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 finetune 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 
Defining Your Problem 9

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.
10 Researching a Problem

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 11

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. 
12 Researching a Problem

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 them–but 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 ProblemOriented 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. 

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 

† 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.
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 13

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. 
14 Researching a Problem

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 problemoriented 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 efficient–it 

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. 
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 15

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. 
16 Researching a Problem

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 
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 17

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. 
18 Researching a Problem

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. 

www.cops.usdoj.gov

The COPS Office website is a good resource for problem-oriented policing.
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 19

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.
20 Researching a Problem

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; 
Getting Started: The Five Most Useful Websites 21

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 23

† 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.

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. 

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 
24 Researching a Problem

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. 

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 

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.
Expanding Your Internet Search From Your Home or Office 25

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 
26 Researching a Problem

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 27

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.†

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 

† See Velasco (2005) and Weisel 

(2005).
28 Researching a Problem

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 29

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: 
30 Researching a Problem

• 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. 
Expanding Your Internet Search From Your Home or Office 31

† It can be difficult to borrow copies 

of dissertations and some reference 

books.

• InfoTrac is an electronic resource that provides 

access to more than 8,500 periodicals–from 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. 

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 
32 Researching a Problem

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 
Expanding Your Internet Search From Your Home or Office 33

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 35

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 problemoriented policing projects. Criminologists also tend to 

be more interested in "distant" causes of crime–such 

as social disadvantage, psychological impediments and 

dysfunctional families–than 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 
36 Researching a Problem

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. 
Evaluating Your Primary Sources of Information 37

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 39

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:†

• Who is involved? Are the offenders juveniles? Juvenile 

gangs? Organized criminals? Addicts? Opportunists? 

Ordinary members of the public? 

† For a fuller discussion of these 

questions, see Clarke and Eck (2003).
40 Researching a Problem

• 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 
Using the Information You Have Found 41

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: 

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 

 Response Source How It Works Works Best If... Considerations

1

2
42 Researching a Problem

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. 
Using the Information You Have Found 43

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 jumpstart your efforts and save you valuable time later in your 

project. 

References 45

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 47

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 problemoriented 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 bachelor’s degree from Calvin College and a master’s 

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 49

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 costeffective 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.
50 Researching a Problem

• 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 problemoriented 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). 
Recommended Readings 51

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. 
52 Researching a Problem

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 53

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
54 Researching a Problem

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
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 55

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
56 Researching a Problem

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.
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 57

• Crime Analysis in America. Timothy C. O’Shea 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