Law enforcement science is a relatively new academic field which was defined by many works during its short history. However, being a colloquial concept, it is a problem to accurately describe its content and to distinguish it from other disciplines. This study clarifies the term with the concept of societal security. Its research method is literature review, which is carried out by analysing the content of the published monographs and research articles. First, the definitions of law enforcement science are defined with the help of works published in Hungarian language. Then comes the elaboration of security policy, especially societal security within that. As a result can be concluded, that it is difficult to determine the content of law enforcement science due to its complexity. The concept of societal security, which deals with the security of social processes, values, movements, rights, institutions and certain groups in society, helps in this definition. The present study argues that the position of law enforcement science within societal security can be of great help in defining its content and in correspondence in English.