Police Officers And Domestic Violence

Each year law enforcement officers throughout the county are involved in shootings, some of them fatal. Frequently the shootings are reported by the media, which exploits the feelings of the victim while ignoring the effect of the shooting on the police officer. It is “estimated that approximately 87 percent of all emergency service personnel will experience a critical incident at least once in their career, which include officer-involved shootings” (Kureczka, 2002, p. 18). Officer-involved shootings have a profound effect on not only the officer involved but also their spouses, families, and the departments they serve. Law enforcement officers that are involved in officer-involved shootings need support and assistance such as critical incident stress debriefing and sometimes long-term trauma recover therapy in order to cope and live successful lives beyond the critical incident of the shooting.

Domestic abuse in the United States is a large-scale and complex social and health problem. The home is the most violent setting in America today (Lay, 1994). Sadly enough, the majority of people who are murdered are not likely killed by a stranger during a hold-up or similar crime but are killed by someone they know. Not surprisingly, the Center for Disease Control and prevention has identified interpersonal violence as a major public health problem (Velson-Friedrich, 1994). Current estimates suggest that three to four million women are the victims of physical abuse by their intimate partners (Harris & Cook, 1994). According to the FBI, some form of domestic violence occurs in half of the homes in the United States at least once a

When prosecuting criminal domestic violence cases too many officers constructed their entire case only on statements made by the victim. However, “victims of domestic violence are more likely than victims of other violent crime to recant or refuse to cooperate in prosecutorial efforts” (Breitenbach, 2008, p. 1256). Officers must consider that victims of domestic violence may refuse to testify because of fear of retaliation, intimidation, financial dependence, emotional attachment, and/or because they reunited with the batterer. If the victim refused to testify during court, their statement against the abuser becomes hearsay evidence. Several recent cases have had a huge influence on how those statements and hearsay evidence may be

Throughout the years, how police officers and police departments view domestic violence has changed drastically. Before the 1960s, police were not properly trained on how to handle any domestic violence cases. The police did not even want to know about it because they felt like it was none of their business. It is something that they believed happened in the home and needed to be dealt with both partners. They needed to work out their issues and not involve the police. “In 1967, the International Association of Chiefs of Police stated in its manual that arrest should only be employed as a last resort,” was stated by White et al. (2005). Departments did not even know how to tell their officers how to handle domestic violence situations. Police barely did anything to help victims feel safe and reassured. A victim could have been brutally beaten, but if police were not present an arrest would not be mad. Back then, police would not even arrest the batter if they had a good excuse. As officers were becoming more aware of domestic violence and as it be came more of a concern, officers still felt uncomfortable dealing with the situation. Police were also, “Required that the police be present at the time a misdemeanor domestic violence incident occurred in order to make an arrest” (Çelik 2013). How could a victim call 911 when a misdemeanor domestic violence incident was occurring? How did police believe that there would be time between blows and screaming to pick up the

This special bond between fellow police officers is what is often coined as the police subculture. The police subculture is “a distinctive set of beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors that are shared amongst the majority of officers working in police organizations”. (Reference.com). Since a police officer’s job is to combat criminal activity, often times they see civilians as irresponsible and possible threats, which is partially true considering both the innocent and criminals are civilians. Therefore, the only other individuals police officers can trust fully are other police officers. From this connection, aspects of friendship, cooperation, and reliability arise which supports the idea of police officers against civilians, or “us versus them”.

The world at large, with the exception of minor traffic stops, will never deal with police officers during the course of their day on the job. Only a small percentage of people, roughly 3%, will actually have any meaningful interaction with police for official purposes. This is a rather small number when you think about how many people there are in the US. Of this small percentage of people, none will likely ever know that officer outside of the uniform and job duties. This is not the case for the wives, girlfriends, and children of police officers.

Summary: This Article evaluates the violence and abuse conducted by police officers towards their intimate partners (Goodmark 1188). Studies show that there is a brief connect toward police officers public and private lives. Interpersonal violence of off-duty officers has been an issue throughout the country for many years. Due to the amount of training police officers receive they are seen to be more dangerous and violent towards their significant others than the average individual and are more likely to be abusive. Research used the National Police Misconduct Project, in which lists the number of incidents of intimate partner abuse conducted by police officers in various jurisdictions ranging from Washington to Virginia. Other research relied on self-reports of the abused. The article shows many examples of police violence and abuse where police officers physically or verbally assault their partners. Regarding two cases in Baltimore of 2013 two police officers killed their partners and then subsequently killed themselves shortly after.

Critically analyse what you consider to be the most significant changes in the criminal justice system relating to one particular area.

Police officers are often viewed as oppressors and unjust by the community, when in reality they are just doing their jobs. The job of a police officer is to apprehend criminals and detect crime, and the maintenance of public order and to the extend and complication of this duty police officers often need to make split second decision that is not often view by the public as what we call “self-defense” which is a right we all have as human beings and stated in the Universal Declaration of

"For example, in police-civilian interactions, members of the public tend to see the uniform and the badge rather than the individual behind them. However, studies show that police officers who are willing to take the time to show kindness, understanding and consideration when interacting with others--especially those who may be distrustful--will likely foster a more positive atmosphere" (Barker et al., 2008). This type of respectfulness goes a long way when officers are doing community service. For example, when officers participate in programs like D.A.R.E, they must show kindnesses when effectively communicating with groups of student and parents. In addition, they can also hold more community meetings. In order to accomplish this, local police in a community would do well to hold regular meetings in to talk about prevalent crimes and how to prevent them. Police officers need to be honest and clear, as well as kind, usually when they communicate with victims, as well as when communicating with those who break the law. Police officers need to be part of the community, and communication helps them achieve this.

Many of the victims, as well as abusers, experience same issues that are faced by civilians. Though society looks to law enforcement to intervene in domestic violence situations, law enforcement officers themselves may also be experiencing like situations at home. Law enforcement officers may be abusers as well as victims of domestic violence. It is essential that they receive the same help as civilians receive. It is not something to be ashamed of; it is a serious problem that needs special attention. Abusers show similar signs and causes, as well as victims experience similar abusers and abuse. What is the truth of officer-involved domestic violence?

Over the years it has been brought up that domestic violence is a very serious but also a very preventable crime. It is not the type of crime that is drawn to one class of people. Any person of any social class of either sex of any background and profession such as a doctor, lawyer or a judge can commit an act of domestic violence or can be a victim of it. And children, although they may not get abused, there are in fact effected emotionally by witnessing the abuse going on in the house. However domestic violence committed by those who are in law enforcement seems pretty ironic, but it is very common and has become a very controversial topic that has been researched and examined by professionals about this issue. Domestic violence should not be taken lightly and is inexcusable especially by those of law enforcement who’s job is to protect people from harm. It’s not only unethical but it sets a bad example, and should not be tolerated, especially on more than one offense, those officers should have their badges taken away, or be taken out of active duty at the least. These officers have a great advantage in getting away with these acts of violence because they know their wives will not report it due to a great number of risks. However in situations where the perpetrator are those officers coming back from combat, with serious psychological concerns deserve proper treatment and therapy so that hopefully the domestic violence will be

Domestic Violence is one of the most common crimes that occur, however not all of them being reported. There are many effects and causes to this behavior in law enforcement officers that have been studied by many researchers and doctors, authors, and the media. The victims of domestic violence from law enforcement officers (mostly being women) are affected by this greatly on a higher level than regular women who aren’t married to police officers, as they have much more to lose if such acts were ever reported on their spouses. There are many theoretical causes of domestic violence from law enforcement officers, which effect their victims greatly, making it almost impossible for them to report any offense without some type of consequence of

Law enforcer can be traumatized when they were exposed to a serious accident or illness. It signifies unintentional injury or accident, having a physical illness or experiencing medical procedures that are extremely painful and/or life threatening. Also, as a law enforcer they would always put their lives at risk because they were called to control or stop different types or sources of violence. First, the domestic violence which highlighted exposure to emotional abuse, actual/attempted physical or sexual assault, or aggressive control perpetrated between a parent/caretaker and another adult in the child victim's home environment or perpetrated by an adolescent against one or more adults in the child victim's home environment. Next, community

While you focused on how law enforcement handles minors ranging from those who are abused to the violent offenders, what is your take on the rest of the other groups which occupies a lot of law enforcement's time. While including children, the mentally ill, gangs, and those who commit domestic abuse also require various methods to try and combat them. In the case of the mentally ill, both they and the children require special approaches to better handle situations that arrive when they come into law enforcement's sights. Then for gangs, since there are various groups that focus on certain drugs, or crimes, require each department to find methods to combat each individual gang that are involved in their area. Then with domestic abuse,