Assessing Police Attitudes Toward Intervention in Gender Violence: the Role of Training, Perceived Severity, and Myths About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women

Abstract

Purpose Even though evidence has broadly confirmed that public attitudes toward intervention shape the decision-making process when dealing with IPVAW events, rather less is known about what determines the police decision-making process. Research support that police attitudes toward intervention in IPVAW explain differences when police officers response to IPVAW events. This research analyzes the combined role of IPVAW myths, perceived severity, and IPVAW training in reactive (tolerance for IPVAW and minimal police involvement) and proactive (important police task and pro-arrest) police attitudes toward intervention in gender violence. Methods Drawing from snowball sampling, we collected responses of 211 Spanish police officers via online subject-recruitment platform. Results The main findings of our study confirmed that IPVAW myths lead to less proactive attitudes toward intervention both directly and through a reduction in the perceived severity of IPVAW. Importantly, we found a moderating role of IPVAW training, suggesting that the endorsement of IPVAW myths leads to less proactive responses, but only for untrained police officers. Conclusions Our findings suggest the importance of IPVAW training on police proactive attitudes toward intervention via IPVAW myths instead of perceived severity. Police training programs to both novice and experienced officers should be focused on confronting IPVAW myths in order to improve police perception, evaluation and involvement in gender violence events.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Provision of Security, Responses to Crime and Security Threats, and Fair Criminal Justice Systems

“…Although these differences are small, they are still statistically significant. Police officers around the world generally show conservative attitudes about domestic violence and violence against women (Ashlock, 2019;Gölge et al, 2016;Li et al, 2021;Serrano-Montilla et al, 2023).…”

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

“…There is debate about the influence of masculine police culture on officers' attitudes toward DFV (Loftus, 2009). Female officers responding to DFV incidents display more patience, compassion, and proactive attitudes compared to male officers, indicating the potential impact of gender bias (Belknap, 1995;El Sayed et al, 2022;Robinson & Chandek, 2000;Serrano-Montilla et al, 2023). A cross-national survey by McPhedran et al (2017) found that male officers in Australia were more likely to endorse police discretion and view DFV as a private matter, contrary to their female counterparts.…”

“…Higher perceived severity of DFV is associated with lower endorsement of myths (i.e., beliefs that minimize or justify DFV) and a greater willingness to intervene (Serrano-Montilla et al, 2023). Conversely, the presence of anchoring effects and working in an environment characterized by more frequent and higher levels of violence can potentially influence perceptions and desensitize officers to the risks involved (Kebbell, 2022).…”

“…Police agencies have been criticized for their attitudes toward DFV and the quality of their responses to incidents. Concerns include officers engaging in victim-blaming by questioning the credibility or actions of the survivor, being unwilling to intervene, and lacking proper knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of DFV (DeJong et al, 2008;Serrano-Montilla et al, 2023). Taken together, the literature suggests that generally, police have more negative attitudes to policing DFV; they find DFV incidents frustrating, and they dislike responding (e.g., Maple & Kebbell, 2021;Segrave et al, 2018).…”