Exploring police attitudes towards domestic violence in Queensland, Australia

Transcription

1 Exploring police attitudes towards domestic violence in Queensland, Australia Dr Steven Sellers Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance Griffith University Professor Paul Mazerolle Pro Vice Chancellor (Arts, Education & Law) Griffith University 1

2 Overview of my talk Importance of the relationship between the police and DV victims Police officers attitudes towards DV Factors which influence police decision making Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005) study Replication of CMC study to explore continuity and change in officers attitudes 2

3 Background and context A high proportion of DV incidents are not reported but those which are create a large volume of calls to the police The relationship between the police and DV victims is crucial for the prevention of DV 3

4 Police attitudes to DV Understanding police attitudes about DV is key to developing a better response to the problem. From the police perspective issues include: Anticipated cooperation from the victim (Cretney & Davis, 1995) Fear of being assaulted (Parsons & Jesilow, 2001) The difficulty of establishing who has committed what crime (Johnson, 2004) 4

5 Police attitudes to DV Fear of complaints against officers (Ferraro, 2005) The perception that police intervention is futile (Miller, 2005; Rowe, 2007) The presence of children (Findlay, Sheehan, Davey, Brodie, & Rynne, 2000) The perception that DV cases are a private matter rather than valid police work (Kantor & Straus, 1995; Kemp, Norris, & Fielding, 1992; Waddington, 1993) 5

6 Police attitudes to DV The relationship between police officers and DV victims is important because: If victims do not trust the police they will be less likely to report DV incidents to them Police officer s attitudes towards DV are a significant factor in how they treat DV victims In turn, officer behaviour towards victims influences the trust victims have in them 6

7 Factors which influence police decisions in DV cases The presence of an offender (Feder, 1999; Robinson & Chandek, 2000) The presence of witnesses (Holmes, 1993) The presence of serious injuries (Buzawa, Austin, & Buzawa, 1996) Whether the offender is affected by alcohol (Berk, Fenstermaker, & Newton, 1988) 7

8 Factors which influence police decisions in DV cases Whether the incident was reported near the end of a police shift (Linn, 2009) The victim s wish that the offender be arrested (Feder, 1998; Ho, 2000) 8

9 Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005) 9

10 Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005) The main research questions were: 1. What is the current police response to domestic violence in Queensland? 2. How can this response be improved? 10

11 Methodology Police officers from across Queensland participated in focus groups, interviews, and surveys Domestic violence agencies and legal services were consulted Victims were surveyed Administrative data from QPS databases was also analysed 11

12 Survey A survey was developed to explore a number of aspects of police officers involvement in domestic violence calls This survey was distributed to a random sample across the state of 900 operational police officers 450 responses were obtained, a response rate of 50% The ranks of respondents were constables (61%), senior constables (25%) and sergeants (13%) 25% of survey participants were female, slightly higher than the 23% of female officers in the QPS at that time 12

13 Findings of victim survey Only about half of the 53 victims were satisfied with the police response, with many feeling that officers did not take the matter seriously, and took too long to arrive Although 42% of victims wanted the offender to be arrested, an arrest was made in only 11% of cases About 38% of victims stated they did not feel any safer after the police arrived 13

14 Findings of police survey Officers indicated that the time-consuming administrative aspects of a domestic violence job made them less willing to take action Officers believed that the complex social and health issues involved in domestic violence mean that police can only be effective in conjunction with assistance from other community agencies 14

15 Factors related to officers decisions to apply for protection order Agree (%) Neither agree nor disagree (%) Disagree (%) Likelihood of DV occurring again Victim s perceived willingness to cooperate Perception that the victim is as much at fault as the offender Introduction of auditing processes Victim s wishes Number of indexes/procedures to complete

16 Factors which affect officers decisions to lay criminal charges Percentage of officers who rated these factors as important Violence against police Use of a weapon Serious injury to victim Emotional state of victim Breach of DVO Victim wants arrest to be made 16

17 Factors which affect officers decisions to not lay criminal charges Percentage of officers who rated these factors as important Belief that victims often drop charges Victim has previously dropped charges Frequent calls from this house from the police Victim is affected by alcohol/drugs Victim is aggressive Victim does not want offender to be charged 17

18 Current project: Replicating CMC study Aims To determine whether and how the attitudes of QPS officers towards DV have changed over the past seven years To establish how any such changes have been influenced by the training programs recently employed by the QPS To explore ways in which the current police response to DV may be improved 18

19 Current project Methodology A slightly modified version of the original survey will be distributed to approximately 450 officers via the internal QPS system Structured interviews of as many as possible of the 29 Domestic Violence Coordinators will also be conducted Wave II data will be compared to that of Wave I 19

20 Possible findings? Officers' attitudes to DV Training

21 Potential contributions to knowledge Changes to police attitudes towards DV, or the lack of them, should help us to understand whether it is worthwhile for police services to make large investments in police training in this area We can also compare any changes in police attitudes against changes in the rates at which DV is reported to them, and the rates at which convictions for these crimes are obtained This should allow us to clarify the relationship between police attitudes to DV and the overall effectiveness of the criminal justice system in controlling it 21

22 Current status of project Negotiations with the QPS for ethical approval Revision of the police survey instrument Literature review of police attitudes to DV Organising release by the CMC of data from the 2005 study 22

23 References Berk, R. A., Fenstermaker, S., & Newton, P. J. (1988). An empirical analysis of police responses to incidents of wife battery. In G. T. Hotaling, D. Finkelhor, J. T. Kirkpatrick, & M. A. Strauss (Eds.), Coping with family violence: Research and policy perspectives (pp ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Buzawa, E. S., Austin, T. L., & Buzawa, C. G. (1996). The role of arrest in domestic versus stranger assault: Is there a difference? In E. S. Buzawa, & C. G. Buzawa (Eds.), Do arrests and restraining orders work? (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Cretney, A., & Davis, G., (1995). Punishing violence. London: Routledge. 23

24 References Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005). Policing domestic violence in Queensland: Meeting the challenges. Brisbane, Australia: Author. Feder, L. (1998). Police handling of domestic and nondomestic assault calls: Is there a case for discrimination? Crime & Delinquency, 44, Feder, L. (1999). Police handling of domestic violence calls: An overview and further investigation. In L. Feder (Ed.), Women and domestic violence: An interdisciplinary approach (pp ). New York: Haworth. 24

25 References Ferraro, K. J. (2005). Policing women battering. In C. M. Renzetti & R. K. Bergen (Eds.), Violence against women (pp ). Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. Findlay, R. A., Sheehan, M., Davey, J. D., Brodie, H., & Rynne, F. (2000). Managing alcohol-related incidents: Perceptions of police officers. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 3, Ho, T. N. (2000). Domestic violence in a Southern city: The effects of a mandatory arrest policy on maleversus-female aggravated assault incidents. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 25,

26 References Holmes, W. M. (1993). Police arrests for domestic violence. American Journal of Police, 12, Johnson, R. R. (2004). Police officer frustrations about handling domestic violence calls. The Police Journal, 77, Kantor, G. K., & Straus, M. A. (1995). Response of victims and the police to assaults on wives. In M. A. Strauss & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families (pp ). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. 26

27 References Kemp, C., Norris, C., & Fielding, N. G. (1992). Negotiating nothing: Police decision-making in disputes. Hants, UK: Ashgate. Linn, E. (2009). Arrest decisions: What works for the officer? New York: Peter Lang. Miller, S. L. (2005). Victims as offenders: The paradox of women s violence in relationships. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers. Parsons, D., & Jesilow, P. (2001). In the same voice: Women and men in law enforcement. Santa Anna, CA: Seven Locks. 27

28 References Robinson, A. L., & Chandek, M. S. (2000). The domestic violence arrest decision: Examining demographic, attitudinal, and situational variables. Crime & Delinquency, 46, Rowe, M. (2007). Rendering visible the invisible: Police discretion, professionalism and decision-making. Policing & Society, 17, Waddington, P. A. J. (1993). Calling the police: The interpretation of, and response to, calls for assistance from the public. Avebury, UK: Ashgate. 28