Wikipedia:WikiProject Law Enforcement/Scope
The scope
editPlease remember to read through the entire scope, even if you have already read all you need for the article you have in mind, as there may be important exceptions further down the page.
Included
editThe following are the main subject areas of articles that fall within the scope of WikiProject Law enforcement:
- Types of police (e.g., Constabulary, Gendarmerie, State police)
- Specific police forces, departments, units, and specialized agencies (e.g., Interpol, Amtrak Police, RCMP, CID)
- Organizations, associations, and institutions directly related to the police (e.g., EuroCOP, RCMP Heritage Centre, Centrex, IACP)
- Pioneers and historical developments in law enforcement (e.g., August Vollmer, Bow Street Runners, Boston Police Strike)
- Policing issues and controversies (e.g., Suicide by cop, Racial profiling)
- Law enforcement terminology and theory (e.g., Fixing Broken Windows, Resisting arrest)
- Governing bodies and legislation (e.g., Police authority, Police Complaints Board, Police Act 1946)
- Notable police individuals (e.g., Frank Serpico,Shirley McKie). For articles concerning police officers killed in the line of duty, please keep in mind notability guidelines, as these are often nominated for deletion. Judgement should be made regarding each article individually, and questions can be asked on the talk page.
- Police titles/ranks (e.g., Constable, Detective, Station Sergeant)
- Law enforcement equipment, uniforms, stations, vehicles, and related material (e.g., Handcuffs, Custodian helmet, Neighbourhood Police Centre, Panda car)
- Rehabilitation programs, prisons, and related workers (e.g., Youth Offending Team, Kingston Penitentiary, Corrections officer, Probation officer)
- Investigation procedures, techniques, technologies, and forensic sciences used by law enforcement officers (e.g., fingerprinting, Police lineup, Bloodstain pattern analysis, Geographic profiling)
- Miscellaneous subjects directly related to the police (e.g., World Police and Fire Games, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial)
Not included
editBecause law enforcement can include an almost limitless range of activities in different contexts, it is necessary to exclude some subject areas that police may be involved in from time to time, but which are better suited to other current or potential WikiProjects:
- Subjects only minimally related to law enforcement (e.g., George Orwell, Larry Campbell, Home Office, Evidence)
- Crime, criminology, sociology and legal topics are related to police work, but which tell us more about society or the criminal justice system than law enforcement specifically (e.g., Baby Face Nelson, Embezzlement, Criminalization, Civil disorder)
- Forensic sciences used in police investigations, but not applied by law enforcement officers (e.g., STR analysis, FACES Lab, Genetic fingerprinting)
- Subjects more notable for their association with the military than law enforcement specifically (e.g., Military police, Sergeant, Epaulette)
- Subjects predominantly related to intelligence, espionage, surveillance, and national security (e.g., CIA, Cryptanalysis, Cyber-terrorism, Open source intelligence)
- Fictional police (e.g., Sherlock Holmes, Dragnet, Thought Police)
- Firearms which have little or no connection to the police, or are not known as police weapons outside a small number of police forces.