NCJ Number
204062
Date Published
2003
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the organizational issues involved in the "mainstreaming" of a successful domestic violence pilot project in Great Britain across an entire police force and its implications for problem-oriented policing.
Abstract
The Vulnerable Victims Project (VVP) was based on two initiatives piloted in two divisional areas within West Yorkshire. The first was a successful domestic violence repeat victimization pilot project that involved a graded response in one policing division. The second project was a system for responding to repeat victims of racist incidents. Based on the findings of the evaluations of these pilot projects, an effort was made to mainstream the graded response model for domestic violence throughout all the West Yorkshire Police jurisdiction and also to apply the approach to both homophobic and racially motivated incidents. The desired outcome was to reduce the incidence of repeat victimization for victims of domestic violence, racist, and homophobic incidents through proactive responses to both perpetrators and victims. Major conceptual and value differences were introduced with the mainstreaming project. The pilot was not conceived as a victim-led project, but rather as a systems approach with three participants: the victim, the perpetrator, and the police. The mainstreaming effort shifted away from an equal focus on the perpetrator and the victim toward a victim-led approach, thus departing from the values underpinning the pilot program. Also, the lack of an integrated corporate response negatively affected the policing of domestic violence across the force. The introduction of the new policing model required appropriate structures, committed and effective management, staff cooperation and coordination, and relevant information management data. Achieving only partial success in these areas led to system malfunction during the first 2 years of mainstreaming. Recommendations for mainstreaming include ensuring that systems for recording and monitoring required information are in place; developing a detailed handbook for staff on how to implement the program before mainstreaming begins; delivering training with a standard format, quality, and time-scale across the force; building divisional senior management support with a core team; acknowledging and addressing problems previously identified by pilot projects before mainstreaming begins; conceptualizing and addressing worst-case scenarios before starting mainstreaming; and recognizing that mainstreaming change takes time for a learning process. Suggestions are also offered for overcoming post-implementation "drift." 8 notes and 20 references