Evaluation of Law Enforcement Training for Domestic Violence Cases in a Southwestern City in Texas, 1997-1999 (ICPSR 3400)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

With funding from the Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS), the police department of a large southwestern city in Texas established the Domestic Violence Prevention Commission in 1996 to develop an effective approach to reduce family violence in the city. Representatives of the Commission reflected a public and private, multi-level collaborative partnership and included members of the police department, the District Attorney's office, the County Attorney's office, the City Attorney's office, probation and parole units, the military, the school district, the Council of Judges, state, county, and municipal legal assistance organizations, Juvenile Probation, the Battered Women's Shelter, the Transitional Living Center, the clergy, and other volunteer services dealing with the problems of family violence. One goal of the Commission was to improve police response to domestic violence incidents. To this end, the Commission implemented the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project Training Model for Law Enforcement Response. The Duluth model had five primary foci: (1) the changing role of law enforcement in domestic violence cases, (2) safety and interviewing techniques, (3) the fundamentals of a domestic violence investigation, (4) documentation of evidence and report writing, and (5) special issues in investigating domestic violence cases. This study was an outcome evaluation of the effects of police officer training on police officer attitudes toward domestic violence (Part 1). In addition to testing the effects of the Duluth Model training on police officer attitudes, two other experimental designs (Part 2) were implemented to test the effects of the Duluth Model training on (1) time spent by police officers at the scene of a domestic violence incident, and (2) number of convictions.

Study Design View help for Study Design

For Part 1, an experiment was designed to measure the effects of the Duluth model training on police officers' attitudes toward domestic violence intervention. Data on the effectiveness of the training were collected by means of an attitude survey of law enforcement officers. The Solomon four-group design was implemented to isolate and estimate the interaction effect that can occur when the subject deduces the desired results from a combination of the pre-test and test stimulus. The test stimulus was the Duluth model training. This design required four groups, two of which received the training (the experimental groups) and two of which did not (the control groups). The subjects comprising the experimental groups were police officers stationed at a regional command center. Of the two groups receiving the test stimulus, one group completed both a pre-test and post-test. The other completed only the post-test. The subjects for the control groups were selected from the four command stations that did not receive training. Of those officers who agreed to participate, every other officer completed the pre-test questionnaire. Forty-eight hours later (when there was a shift change), the post-test was administered to all the officers. The pre-test/post-test measuring instrument was a questionnaire consisting of a series of items designed to assess attitudes toward gender roles, police intervention in domestic violence, police policy surrounding domestic violence, prosecution, the training itself, and belief in inaccurate or simplistic causes of domestic violence. For Part 2, two additional experiments utilizing a classical experimental design were implemented to test the effects of the Duluth model training on (1) time police officers spent at the scene of a domestic violence incident, and (2) the number of convictions. Two computer systems were used to gather information: the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD). Family violence cases for September 1998 through September 1999 were gathered from two sources at the District Attorney's (DA) office. Case numbers for which arrests had been made at the scene were collected from the District Attorney Information Management System (DIMS) department files. Non-arrest case numbers were gathered from the screening log of the family violence attorney in charge of overseeing the prosecution of family violence cases. Once the unique case number assigned by the local police department was identified, data were collected to be used in the experimental designs. The first experimental design was used to measure the effects of domestic violence response training and the amount of time spent at the scene of the domestic violence episode. For domestic violence offenses occurring from September 1998 through September 1999, time spent at the scene by law enforcement officers was obtained from the police department's CAD system. For the purposes of this study, time at the scene was assigned to the principal or senior officer of record and was calculated as the difference between the initial time of arrival at the scene and the time when the police unit informed dispatch it was leaving the scene of the domestic violence call. Therefore, "time at the scene" was operationalized as the length of time in minutes that the officer spent at the family violence scene and did not include transport of the offender for booking. For "report only" cases in which the family violence victim filed a complaint at a police substation, time at the scene was operationalized as the time spent compiling the report for the victim. The test stimulus was the Duluth training. Cases managed by police officers who received training constituted the experimental group. Cases managed by police officers who did not receive training constituted the control group. The pre-test and post-test consisted of the amount of time spent at the scene of the domestic violence episode. The second experimental design measured the effects of the Duluth training on the number of convictions. Disposition of family violence cases was determined by locating the cases on the prosecuting attorney's centralized computer system. The outcome of each case was noted as either a dismissal or conviction. The pre-test and post-test consisted of the number of cases resulting in convictions from both the control and experimental groups.

Sample View help for Sample

Part 1: Convenience sampling. Part 2: inap.

Universe View help for Universe

Part 1: Law enforcement officers from selected command centers who had been administered the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project Training Model for Law Enforcement Response (experimental group) and those who had not received the training (control group). Part 2: Domestic violence cases handled by police officers who had completed the Duluth model training.

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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Variables for Part 1 include the assigned research group and respondents' level of agreement with various statements, such as: alcohol is the primary cause of family violence, men are more likely than women to be aggressive, only mentally ill people batter their families, mandatory arrest of offenders is the best way to reduce repeat episodes of violence, family violence is a private matter, law enforcement policies are ineffective for preventing family violence, children of single-parent, female-headed families are abused more than children of dual-parent households, and prosecution of an offender is unlikely regardless of how well a victim cooperates. Index scores calculated from groupings of various variables are included as well as whether the respondent found training interesting, relevant, well-organized, and useful. Demographic variables for each respondent include race, gender, age, and assignment and position in the police department. Variables for Part 2 include whether the domestic violence case occurred before or after training, to which test group the case belongs, the amount of time in minutes spent on the domestic violence scene, and whether the case resulted in a conviction.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

Unknown.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Likert scales were used in Part 1. There were no scales used in Part 2.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2002-06-27

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