Police Response to Domestic Violence Calls and How it Effects Victims

Although we lost Ellen Pence, a woman who changed how domestic violence is addressed, in 2012, there are many lives that are being saved to this day because of her work. Ellen Pence found her calling in 1977 when she began working for the Minneapolis Housing Authority that helped individuals relocate with housing complications (StarTribune, 2010). It was then that she immersed herself through domestic violence cases and set the standard for addressing these cases. Ellen Pence is especially known for establishing the Duluth Program, a program that address batterers in the court systems, and Praxis Training, which are training on addressing domestic violence for law enforcement, advocates, community agencies, and institutions. Pence’s 35 years of service change the way domestic violence cases were handled, educated key players in domestic violence cases, and showed the world what it was like to be a victim of domestic abuse. Without her efforts, many individuals in power addressing these cases would be lost and those to who are victims would not be understood as they are today.

This paper will show common dynamics surrounding officer-involved domestic violence (OIDV) including the most associated causes for it. It will also touch on a few reasons why victims of OIDV are far less likely to come forward. The purpose of this paper is not to attempt to justify the actions of the abusive police officer, but rather to shed some light on the factors that appear to promote the conditions for OIDV. It will also lend to the reader perspective of the lifestyle an officer experiences as a result of the duty expectations. At the end of this paper, the reader will take away knowledge of specific factors that need to be considered when trying to recognize and change the conditions that build to cause OIDV.

Police officers have a significant level of discretion when ethical decision making is incorporated in deciding how to respond to a domestic violence call. For example, officers exercise discretion by deciding how to respond to domestic violence when a situation involves a fellow officer. America is a country in which many believe in privacy within the household and often choose not to be involved in a domestic dispute because families should resolve their own problems. However, discretionary powers abused by an officer are used to dissuade the victim from filing charges against the officer’s colleague. Officers often do not choose to arrest in a domestic dispute because they believe the family, not the justice system, should resolve the

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

On 03/18/2017 at approximately 2132 hours, I was dispatched to 8340 Rd. 46 in the County of Montezuma, and State of Colorado for reports of a domestic disturbance.

It has been recorded that approximately “2,000,000 injuries, and 1,300 deaths are caused each year as a result of domestic violence” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This harm to and loss of life is due to the negligence of all Americans, in regards to the monitoring and managing of domestic violence in the United States. In order to combat the blatant disregard for domestic violence victims, Americans must support, aid, and assist those who fall victim to this crime, as well as educate those who are oblivious to the matter at hand. These actions will be essential in the eradication of domestic violence, as well as the preservation of the health and overall safety of all American people.

Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior or coercive control in any relationship that is used by one person to gain or maintain power and control over another. (Violence). Most of society’s think domestic violence is when one of the spouses is abusing the other spouse. Domestic violence can occur between anyone who has lived together at one point of time; couples who have never lived together, but have a child together and family member who has live together in the same household. Domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of their class, religion, ethnic background, education, age, gender, disability status, sexual orientation, gender presentation, or immigration status. The domestic violence can place in different categories, such as; emotional abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and financial abuse. Researcher had discovered tactics that the abusers use to control their victims such as; dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, denial and shifting blame. (Helpguide.org).

Domestic altercation contributes the largest category of calls received by the po-lice annually. It is not surprising considering the vast number of womb who are abused by their significant others. Domestic abuse is a hard pill to swallow, it is a complex issue that plagues a society. Neither parties are likely to come forth with the traumatic details. It is easy to read on the internet about the perils of domestic violence. The common sto-ries of a man abuses woman, a woman kills child, for all to see. However, what causes violence to happen? Who really is to blame? The Judicial system

Police Departments struggle with the ongoing 911 calls for domestic disturbances. The majority of domestic disturbance calls are nonviolent, verbal disputes. There are repeat callers where police respond so many times that they know them by name and their background. However, most of those domestic incidents do escalate to violence. NCVS reports that domestic violence accounts for 21% of all violent crimes. Woman against abuse reports that more than 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Domestic violence takes on many forms such as:

In the struggle and determination to end intimate partner violence, laws were made to provide a sense of security in the homes of these domestic violence victims. These laws created an impression that this violence can and will be stopped by law enforcement individuals. That is to say that law enforcement is given the power to make warrantless arrests to ensure that the victim is safe and away from the perpetrator. Many states have different discretionary mandates that specifically advise these officers to be decisive in the situations that they will face in the future. In some states, the mandatory arrest is up to the officer’s own judgement, while in other states they have the more assertive and hard-hitting approach to end the violence.

As all officers know, domestic violence is a serious problem throughout the United States. Unfortunately, it is also a crime that some officers perpetrate in their own homes. When officers - who are sworn to protect and serve in their communities - abuse their power and control at home, they violate the law. When this occurs, the victim, the family, the agency, and the entire community suffer. Officers are trained to maintain control, to use weapons, and to justify their use of force on the job. Officers also need to understand, however, that the core behaviors that make them effective on the job must not be used against family members and intimate partners (University of Florida).

Million of women in the United States are physically, and emotionally abuse by an intimate partner each year. Domestic violence is a situation that harms and kills most particularly women, children, and families members. As a result, battering of women is one of the foremost causes of injury to women. The growing awareness of how pervasive and destructive this situation is in our society, and the violence that accompanies it, has created a wide variety of programs, shelters, educational endeavors, law enforcement initiatives, and other efforts to prevent the development of this well-known trend. Fortunately, most victims of domestic violence today have one or more ways out, if they know there are available opportunities exist and able to use them accordingly.

Domestic violence performed by officers are often overlooked by the department. Suspicion has been existent for many departments across the country that are handling cases of police family violence informally without an authorized report, research, or even check of the victim’s safety. The informal method is often used in discrepancy to legal directives and department procedures regarding the appropriate response to domestic violence crimes. A survey was conducted in 1994 that recorded out of 123 police departments, 45% had a nonexistent procedure for dealing with officer-involved domestic violence. This same study found flaws in the departments. They found counseling, the most common disciplinary tactic for allegations of domestic violence. Just 19% of the 123 departments’ identified that officers would be dismissed if they were brought upon a second allegation of domestic violence. Officers usually receive an exceedingly light discipline from the criminal justice

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 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 or, 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

Domestic violence should not be taken lightly and 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.