Practical Implications of Current Domestic Violence Research: For Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges
Published June 2009
Chapter 5. Law Enforcement Responses
Section 6 — Should law enforcement agencies participate in coordinated community responses?
A number of jurisdictions have endeavored to create what have been called coordinated community responses, composed of multiple criminal justice and social service agencies that respond to domestic violence. This approach may exert a positive impact on both case processing and reabuse, according to initial research. [118] For example, both arrests and successful prosecutions increased in several Minnesota jurisdictions with the creation of coordinated community responses involving law enforcement. [69] Other studies have found similar promising results [118], although more is required than participation in multidisciplinary task forces for communities to create effective coordinated responses. [227] Personnel of relatively autonomous organizations (both public and private) cannot be presumed to have the organizational capacity or the willingness among their personnel to truly collaborate. [73]
Performance Measure: A total of 65 percent of police departments have established partnerships with community-based victim advocacy groups, according to a national survey of 14,000 police departments. [213] (Research basis: A representative sample drawn from 14,000 law enforcement agencies across the nation.)
5-5 – Do they increase victim satisfaction?
5-7 – Does police domestic violence training improve law enforcement responses to victims?
