Unprepared for information interactions: abuse survivors and police

Abstract

Purpose -Working towards a broader understanding of information provision by agencies responding to crisis situations, the aim of this paper is to examine mandated information provision on the part of law enforcement to survivors of intimate partner violence at the scene of an emergency response. Design/methodology/approach -The authors conducted a detailed content analysis of 1,851 documents supplied by local law enforcement agencies from 755 US cities. A 29-element coding framework was developed to identify five key content areas of information: the nature of abuse, survivor norms, police information, legal options, and community resources. Findings -The best represented content areas related to police information, legal options, and community resources. Information on the nature of abuse and survivor hood was dramatically less well represented. Law enforcement understandably privileges that information which involves immediate, concrete action and within which the officer may have a responsibility (for example, to obtain a temporary restraining order). Correlations between city size and the presence of information elements were minimal, while several significant correlations based on region were noted. Originality/value -This is the first nationwide study of the information that police are required to provide to survivors of intimate partner violence. Understanding the features of this seldom-discussed yet vital interaction can help IS professionals support practices and protocols of other agencies responding to crisis situations who may be struggling with minimal preparation for information interactions.

The role of civil society in a time of pandemic

“…7 However, many authors warn that the answers to these questions cannot be applied in general as each situation of family violence is different, and each victim, depending on place of residence, information, wider context, family situation, level of education, financial situation, social norms, disability, and social network, requires different types of information. 8 Allen's 9 model Everyday life information seeking (ELIS) based on "A person-insituation approach", warns about the described problem as a basis for the analysis of the different information needs of IPV survivors who escaped from violent situations and lived independently. 10,11 Westbrook continues on Dunne's research, applying the ELIS (ELIS) person-in-progressive situation approach" for IPV survivors by setting a framework for 16 "specific information needs from different angles of victims of family violence (e.g.…”

Guidelines for mandated documents

“…The introduction and literature review sections will, therefore, cover some of the same material. To avoid repeated self-citations, this note indicates such appropriate references (see: Westbrook and Finn, 2012;Finn et al, 2011).…”

Intimate partner violence online: Expectations and agency in question and answer websites

“…At the state level (Davenport, Richey, & Westbrook, ; Wathen & McKeown, ) as well as the local level (Westbrook, 2008a) these sites fail to provide situational IPV resources, opting instead for broad referrals placed outside the governmental context. The mandated information distributed by law enforcement officers privileges the concrete, task‐oriented responsibilities of survivors and criminal justice actors with little of the social service context survivors need to complete these tasks (Finn, Westbrook, Chen, & Mensah, ; Westbrook & Finn, ). Interpersonal but formal online interactions with library professionals tend to lack affective components and provide only minimal factual responses (Westbrook, ).…”