Police Perceptions of Crime Victim Behaviors: A Trend Analysis Exploring Mandatory Training and Knowledge of Sexual and Domestic Violence Survivors’ Trauma Responses

Abstract

Police perceptions of a victim’s self-presentation style can have an impact on secondary victimization, case processing, and public safety. Trauma survivors may present to police with flat or restricted affect, emotional numbing, and disjointed recollections. Often, police personnel have misperceived manifestations of trauma as indicators of reliability and credibility. Using a trend design, this study employed a sample of 979 police from one of the five largest U.S. cities to examine the relation between trauma-informed training and endorsement of trauma misperceptions. Multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were estimated and revealed mean adherence to trauma misperceptions was significantly lower among participants who had completed training, controlling for demographic, occupational, and attitudinal variables. Implications and future research are discussed.

The Nexus Between Intimate Partner Violence and Stalking: Examining the Arrest Decision

“…Educational programming that targets stalking identification may better equip officers in addressing stalking that may present in IPV incidents (The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center [SPARC], n.d.). Recent years have seen the implementation of specialized police training to develop best practices concerning gender violence (Franklin et al, 2020; Oehme et al, 2016; Renzetti et al, 2015; Smith et al, 2016). ).…”

“…The majority of stalking statutes require a pattern of pursuit conduct that invokes fear for the victim (Fox et al, 2011; NCVC, n.d.-a), though scholars have raised several issues regarding the fear standard, including the invalidation and undercounting of victims who internalize emotions differently (Dietz & Martin, 2007). These individuals may not approach police with behavioral displays of fear commensurate with their trauma (Franklin et al, 2020). Future research should employ methodological designs to measure fear within the context of partner-perpetrated stalking to capture the way fear operates for survivors and how this affects police decisions.…”

Perceptions of Victim Advocates and Predictors of Service Referral Among Law Enforcement Personnel

“…One of the primary ways that officers can provide trauma-informed care is to refer victims to service agencies for direct service provision. From the standpoint of schema theory, police may have misperceptions about gender violence (see also Franklin et al, 2019; Garza & Franklin, 2020), and view DV and SA through this lens when making service referral decisions. To further examine service referral, this study used 452 police survey responses to examine: (1) perceptions of victim advocates; (2) frequency of service referral; and (3) predictors of service referral.…”

“…When victims feel invalidated, are met with uncertainty, and perceive police as blaming, they have discontinued participation in case processing (Koss, 2000). One factor that may explain negative police response is an adherence to myths that blame DV and SA victims for their victimization (DeJong et al, 2008; Franklin et al, 2019; Garza & Franklin, 2020; Page, 2010).…”

Childhood family violence and officer responses to officer-involved domestic violence: Effects of cumulative and resolved trauma

“…This finding highlights the need for agency leadership to prioritize trauma education to increase self-awareness of the potential effects of trauma and trauma-informed services (see Implications). A recent study found that officers with trauma-informed training were less likely to believe myths about victim trauma (Franklin et al, 2019), which is important because beliefs play a role in predicting officers' responses. According to our study, the belief that IPV reports are generally false related to the tendency to not help victims, make an arrest, or recommend that the offending officer get help.…”