Do you think the police deal with Domestic Violence effectively?

Answer 1

The short answer is no.

But that's only because I don't feel that there is enough understanding of what DV is. So how can it be effectively dealt with?

DV consists of 4 different types of abuse (sexual, physical, emotional and financial)

It is the biggest killer of women in the UK,

1 in three women will experience it and 1 in 8 men.

The police receive a phone call every minute form a member of the public asking for help in a DV setting.

Less than half of all incidents are reported.

Majority of perpetrators are male

As Surf-Cop said the law is SLOWLY waking up to the seriousness of DV. But that's the law not the individual officers.

If DV is so prolific then it can only be assumed that SOME (NOT ALL!) of the officers attending DV will be perpetrators themselves and that will effect how it is dealt with.
I also believe it has alot to do with the training that the officers receive as to how effectively they deal with a DV incident.
Then of course it will then go on to the CPS, then the courts and that will depend on the understanding that judges and magistrates have of DV.

So until there is a greater understanding of DV it cant be dealt with effectively!


That's my little rant for today!

Answer 2

There is room for improvement - but then again nothing is perfect. They have come a long way since the days of believing it was every husbands right to give his wife a clout after a couple of pints!

If there is an offence - ie an assault of any degree - the positive intervention policy applies and the aggressor WILL be arrested - even if the victim does not want this.

Many women (and men) have suffered numerous assaults/attacks BEFORE the police are called. By this time they are so scared and brow beaten that they find it difficult to make any complaint against their partner.

Obviously, if the victim refuses to make a statement, this can make it incredibly difficult for the police to bring a case to court and obtain a succesful prosecution.

So much more help needs to be given to the victims of domestic violence but sadly the police are too busy dealing with other crimes in progress - some genuine and some not!

So, if you know anyone is who a victim, offer them all the support you can. You may feel you are beating your head against a brick wall but how easy can it be for someone to up sticks and leave everything they have ever known and owned and start all over again.

Answer 3

An highly emotive subject - I would have to say they do their best given the fact that the majority of complainants are women and they have a tendency to do a CDtoP once the defendant has been removed from the scene.

I have encountered some extremely conscientious police officers who deal very effectively with complainants, and have an empathy for the situation. I'm not sure I could be quite so empathetic if I were the officer and had to deal with retractions and I'm a woman.

I'm one of those women who has never encountered Domestic Violence on a personal level, but I do deal with DV cases and find it always a shock even now when a complainant goes through with a prosecution and I have not had to use a summons to get her into court.

I think if anything, my sympathies lie with all complainants but particularly male victims...they are generally overlooked and viewed only as perpetrators ... some police officers need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to DV

Answer 4

As an active peace officer I think that we do the best we can within the constraints placed on us by the law. I fully support the rights of all people to be protected from unreasonable prosecution; however, I also believe that victims need to have their right to the "pursuit of happiness" protected as well. In any event, it has been my experience that even if a person is arrested for domestic abuse (physical or otherwise) they are not prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If they are prosecuted and found guilty they are all too often slapped on the wrist and set loose to abuse again. This only sends the message to them and other potential abusers that it doesn't matter if they are abusive.

I think the better question is: Does our judicial system and society as a whole deal with domestic violence effectively.

Answer 5

I think they deal with it better now then they use to. Like in my home State of Oregon, at least in Portland, they had a complete unit devoted to Domestic Violence.
I was in a very abuse marriage from 91 to 95, and I wish that the State I lived in at the time (Which was in the South) would have done more then they did. They would tell me to file a police report after he beat me, and then they would arrest him and let him out on a very low bond. It actually took me moving from there and then filing for a divorce and protection order before I finally got rid of him.
People still don't take Domestic Violence as seriously as they should. I hate it when people put the blame on the victim by saying that they could just get out of the relationship if they wanted to bad enough. When your life is being threaten and you're told you'll be killed if you leave, it scares you and you don't know what to do. And someone like me who wasn't exposed to any kind of abuse growing up, sometimes feels even more ashamed that they have ended up in a relationship that is so abusive.
Studies have prove that abuse is passed down in families, so if it's going on in your household, you need to put a stop to it and get help before it's passed on to the next generation.

Answer 6

Depends on what you mean by "effectively."

You must have heard the statistic that domestic distrubance calls are among the most dangerous situations a police officer is called into.

Do they help? Of course they do. Often lives are saved. Adults and Childrens'.

Do they ALWAYS help? Of course not. There are nowhere near enough officers to stop all crimes and disturbances. And when an officer does arrive, the situation is not always clear enough to deal with it "effectively." Training may not come near enough to be completely effective, since even fully trained psychologists can't save every life.

Are there still bad cops? Of course there are. As long as human beings are given the job of enforcing human laws in a community of humans, judgements will continue to be flawed and humans will still suffer.

Do victims of dometic violence sometimes contribute to their own vicimization? Raise your hands, anyone? OF COURSE they do. Humans are FLAWED.

There will NEVER be a 100% effective method to deal with domestic violence. All the police, or any of us, can do is to deal with it one human being at a time.

Answer 7

do bears **** in the woods,,
the cops although basically useless young men and women with spotty faces and snotty noses,can do a decent job during domestic cases, if they bother to come to the house within 3 days(my experience)the courts then follow this up by giving the guilty party a fineof say 500 pounds,,,
by the time it gets to court the couple are back together and getting on with life,, the fine therfore punishes both the victim and the guilty partner????
how can this be right,,, the law is about money nothing less, thats why they target motorists,,
if they put the same resources into crime we would be living in a better world,,
the days of good cops with common sense who actually give a toss are long gone

Answer 8

I have had personal experience of this and in my opinion the two men that dealt with it from the start were unbelivably supportive. From the minute they were called out (by neighbours and myself) they were perfect. They kept saying they had only recieved a call from neighbours (eliminating blame from me), that they had to arrest him no matter what, and told him that I had said I didn't want him arrested (again this helped at the time). After that they kept constantly in contact with me, everytime I felt like withdrawing my statement i'd get a call or a visit to make sure I was ok. They placed bail conditions on him which prevented him coming on my street or contacting me. Even once he had managed to come into my house, all apologetic wanting to see his son, within an hour the same police were there arresting him for breach of bail, I still to this day don't know how they knew! Without them I wouldn't of gone ahead(pressing charges), they were there at court and sat with me, trying to cheer me up whilst we waited and then gave me a lift home! I must say, these were not the domestic violence officers, I did speak to them once but they just didnt seem to get it like the normal cops. These men kept saying that when it was all over I'd be fine, I didn't believe them, thought my ex would hate me forever for pressing charges,always be on my case, when in fact he has been no trouble at all for nearly a year (first in 6!!). I'm so glad I got those two officers.

Answer 9

Not at all and surfcop is a clueless rookie or lying, 20 years as a Philly firefighter/paramedic I have seen women crack men's skulls with cast iron pots, stalk them, destroy their private property, attack and harass their family and acquaintances, stab them and other manner of assault and yet less than 1% of the women were ever arrested and fewer were actually prosecuted.

Cops often intimidate men who complain of domestic violence, women's groups ostracize the men and outright encourage women to lie.

Federal funding is provided for domestic abuse cases when women are victimized and cities don't want to lose that funding so it is their best interest to maintain the status quo.

Again absolutely not!

Answer 10

One area of domestic violence often overlooked is violence by children towards parents. I suspect this is because there seems no clear policy set out for dealing with this problem, so it varies from area to area. Generally speaking, the police will come out and help, but they are hampered by lack of secure places for teenagers and the attitiude of the social services, who generally speaking, refuse to act.
The target is usually single mothers with little family support, who are particularly vulnerable because there is no one to back them up.