NCJ Number
80098
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 243-260
Date Published
1981
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The reported study examines the perceptions and practices of police officers responding to domestic disturbance calls in a small Northeastern city (75,000 population).
Abstract
It is contended that once police officers enter a domestic dispute, they become a part of the conflict situation; thus, in order to fully understand the processes involved in family crisis calls, one must understand how the police define the situation, the participants, and their own role. A small city was chosen because police officers at such sites are not formally trained in domestic dispute intervention but must, nevertheless, respond to frequent calls of this type. A study of their experiences should either reveal informally developed skills and strategies or identify weaknesses in their approach. An open-ended interview schedule was used with the 30 officers who handled domestic disturbance calls; their responses were recorded while the officers were on patrol. Next, every domestic disturbance called into the police was investigated during a 1-month period (56 calls). Subsequent interviews were held with the involved family members as well as with the officers. Results showed that most domestic disturbance calls were disputes related to alcohol, threats to family members, family assaults, calls by outsiders, parent-child disputes, or disputes involving extramarital affairs. Alcohol was found to be a significant factor in understanding both police and family perceptions and behaviors. Police intervention often influenced the direction which the family conflicts took. In most cases, the effect was a lessening of tensions, but in some cases, the police intervention was actually the precipitating incident which brought about the shift from threat to violence. In the interviews, officers clearly demonstrated their feelings about family dispute calls -- the major attitudes held are those of dislike, frustration, and anger, arising from the officers' belief that nothing could be done that was within their competence. Small city resources should be made available for police family dispute training. Tabular data, footnotes, and seven references are given.