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

This study was an outcome evaluation of the effects of theDuluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project Training Model for LawEnforcement Response on police officer attitudes toward domesticviolence. Data on the effectiveness of the training were collected bymeans of an attitude survey of law enforcement officers (Part1). Additionally, two experimental designs (Part 2) were implementedto test the effects of the Duluth model training on (1) time spent bypolice officers at the scene of a domestic violence incident, and (2)the number of convictions. Variables for Part 1 include the assignedresearch group and respondents' level of agreement with variousstatements, such as: alcohol is the primary cause of family violence,men are more likely than women to be aggressive, only mentally illpeople batter their families, mandatory arrest of offenders is thebest way to reduce repeat episodes of violence, family violence is aprivate matter, law enforcement policies are ineffective forpreventing family violence, children of single-parent, female-headedfamilies are abused more than children of dual-parent households, andprosecution of an offender is unlikely regardless of how well a victimcooperates. Index scores calculated from groupings of variousvariables are included as well as whether the respondent foundtraining interesting, relevant, well-organized, anduseful. 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 caseoccurred before or after training, to which test group the casebelongs, the amount of time in minutes spent on the domestic violencescene, and whether the case resulted in a conviction.