Model POP Curriculum

Designed by Joe Kuhns & Nancy Leach

About the Course

This 14-16 week modular course has been designed for undergraduates who may already have taken an introductory course in criminal justice or policing. The modules may be adapted to graduate-level education, pre-service police training, in-service police training, and/or community-based training, even online delivery.

Included in the complete curriculum are the following components:

  • The suggested course outline with active links to class readings
  • Fourteen learning modules (in PowerPoint), developed for a standard 14-16 week college course
  • Suggestions and/or links for in-class and out-of-class exercises and assignments
  • Recommended class readings for each learning module
  • Suggestions for relevant video and online resources
  • Suggested exercises for other instructional settings (e.g., graduate courses, in-service training)

The following textbook is recommended for this course regardless of the students/setting:

Braga, Anthony (2008). Problem-Oriented Policing and Crime Prevention. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Buy this book.

Additional recommended readings for graduate-level courses and similar settings are listed within each module.

Syllabus Outline

  1. Problem-oriented policing and problem-solvingZIP
  2. Crime theories and situational crime preventionZIP
  3. Researching/scanning and analyzing problemsZIP
  4. Returning to the crime triangle: responding to places, offenders, and targets/victimsZIP
  5. Assessing your problem-solving strategy and other challenges to implementing POP projectsZIP