A Blue Step Forward: An Exploratory Study of Law Enforcement Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence in the Southern United States

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive issue that is underreported to law enforcement. One reason why individuals do not report their victimization stems from a perceived lack of support from law enforcement officials. However, law enforcement perceptions of IPV are largely unknown as the empirical literature on this topic is both limited and dated. To fill this gap in the literature, we conduct an exploratory analysis of how officers perceive IPV events. Utilizing original survey data from 498 law enforcement officers in a Southern state, officer perceptions of offenders, victims, and the credibility of IPV calls are explored. We also evaluate whether those perceptions vary by personal characteristics of officers by utilizing t-tests and correlations. Findings indicate that, overall, officer perceptions have evolved from the historical viewpoint that IPV events were a private family matter to contemporary perceptions that IPV is a serious crime that requires attention from law enforcement. Furthermore, results suggest differences in perceptions by officers’ personal characteristics (i.e., gender, rank, age, and years of law enforcement experience). With increasing age and years of law enforcement experience, victim-related factors are less salient in police perceptions of IPV calls. Regarding gender, female officers are less likely than male officers to believe victims may easily leave an abusive relationship and less likely to consider physical evidence of trauma to be very important in determining the credibility of an IPV call—suggesting that female officers are more in tune with the complexity of IPV cases. While officers appear to have a strong understanding of the contours of IPV incidents, overall, clear differences by personal characteristics were evident.

“DV Fatigue”: Work Stress and Officers’ Attitudes and Performance at Domestic and Family Violence Incidents

“…Gill et al (2019) reported that most participants (92.3%) in a sample of Canadian police officers considered DFV as a serious issue and supported a strong criminal justice response. A similar finding was reported by El Sayed et al (2022) pointing toward a positive shift in attitudes among police officers. Nonetheless, it is evident that there is scope to enhance police responses and improve their attitudes.…”

“…We hypothesized that there would be a positive effect of gender and lived experience on DFV stress, attitudes, and performance. Against expectations and in contrast to McPhedran et al (2017) and El Sayed et al (2022), officers' overall attitudes toward DFV did not significantly differ by gender or lived experience. The lack of gender differences in attitudes is surprising, considering previous research has demonstrated that male police officers have less supportive attitudes toward DFV compared to their female counterparts.…”

Providing Support to Victims: Police Officers’ Service Referral Provision and Advocate Involvement in Domestic Violence Incidents

“…Results demonstrated that when the DV incident involved a physical altercation between the victim and suspect, the odds of service referral increased by three times as compared to DV cases involving only emotional and/or psychological abuse, reiterating prior research (Kernic & Bonomi, 2007). This finding likely reflects police perceptions of urgency and severity, where physical DV is often perceived as more legitimate, credible, and serious when compared to abuse that does not produce demonstrable physical injury (Dichter et al, 2011;Eigenberg et al, 2012;El Sayed et al, 2020;Twis et al, 2018). El Sayed et al (2020), for instance, recently found that nearly 500 officers from nine Southern police agencies indicated that evidence of physical trauma was one of the most important factors influencing perceptions of victim credibility.…”

“…This finding likely reflects police perceptions of urgency and severity, where physical DV is often perceived as more legitimate, credible, and serious when compared to abuse that does not produce demonstrable physical injury (Dichter et al, 2011;Eigenberg et al, 2012;El Sayed et al, 2020;Twis et al, 2018). El Sayed et al (2020), for instance, recently found that nearly 500 officers from nine Southern police agencies indicated that evidence of physical trauma was one of the most important factors influencing perceptions of victim credibility. In the present study, it could be that officers may not have interpreted emotional and/or psychological DV as serious enough to warrant service referral.…”

“…In these instances, perhaps DV victims were less likely to reach out for advocacy assistance because of their dependence on the perpetrator and their inability to leave the marital relationship, despite the dangers associated with staying. It could also be that police or specialized investigators, who are tasked with building a case against the DV perpetrator, adhered to schemata about married women in abusive relationships and their decreased cooperation with police efforts (e.g., El Sayed et al, 2020;Fleming & Franklin, 2020)-including embedded victim advocates. To that end, officers may be less likely to engage in efforts to involve victim advocates in cases involving married couples.…”