NCJ Number
225951
Date Published
December 2008
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on a number of performance indicators that could be used by Australian police to measure their effectiveness in responding to and reducing family violence.
Abstract
Policing of family violence is an important issue. Police are, in many cases, the front line response to family violence and this places them in the unique position of being an obvious source for accurate data on reported family violence incidence. To meet these challenges, performance measures that will inform police, policymakers and the community about the effectiveness of policing strategies are needed. Through a review of family violence data collection processes conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology for the Australian Capital Territory Policing (ACT Policing) family violence police workload indicators were identified and police performance measures examined. Performance measures generated from the review include: (1) reduction in repeat victimization; (2) reduction in repeat attendances; (3) reduction in repeat offending; (4) accurate identification and recording of incidents; (5) increased number of offenders charged and successfully prosecuted; (6) increased arrests and laying of charges for domestic violence order and domestic order breaches; (7) ensuring police are adequately informed about previous attendance and criminal histories before arriving at an incident; (8) improved willingness of victims to call and/or cooperate with police, and increased victim satisfaction with police response; and (9) increased victim satisfaction with police response. Figures and references