{"title":"Prevalence and patterns of domestic abuse victimisation in an English police workforce","authors":"Iain R. Brennan, L. Couto, N. O'Leary","doi":"10.1080/10439463.2023.2184817","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Perhaps more than any other occupation, police witness the context and aftermath of domestic abuse but little is known about the police-victim overlap with regard to domestic abuse. This paper, based on survey responses from approximately one-quarter of the workforce in an English police force (weighted n = 876) addresses this gap. In the survey, respondents described personal characteristics, colleague and personal experience of domestic abuse victimisation. Weighting the data to address non-response patterns, we found lifetime prevalence of domestic abuse in the police workforce around 22%. Females were more likely than males to experience domestic abuse (relative risk (RR) 1.61, confidence interval (CI) 1.25–2.08). Of victims, 47% disclosed their victimisation to a colleague, while 37% disclosed to a line manager and 27% were abused by a partner who also worked in policing. Although there was no difference in disclosure between males and females, disclosure to a colleague (RR 1.66, CI 1.24–2.13) or a line manager (RR 1.79, CI 1.24–2.58) was more likely if the abuser worked in policing. This paper – the most comprehensive description of domestic abuse victimisation in a policing population – demonstrates that, despite their occupational role as guardians and enforcers of the law, the police workforce experience domestic abuse in similar ways as do the general population. As with the general population, this frequency of victimisation, coupled with the repetitive and continuous nature of domestic abuse and the harm it causes, represents a widespread problem and threat to the wellbeing of the police workforce.","PeriodicalId":243832,"journal":{"name":"Policing and Society","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Policing and Society","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2023.2184817","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
ABSTRACT Perhaps more than any other occupation, police witness the context and aftermath of domestic abuse but little is known about the police-victim overlap with regard to domestic abuse. This paper, based on survey responses from approximately one-quarter of the workforce in an English police force (weighted n = 876) addresses this gap. In the survey, respondents described personal characteristics, colleague and personal experience of domestic abuse victimisation. Weighting the data to address non-response patterns, we found lifetime prevalence of domestic abuse in the police workforce around 22%. Females were more likely than males to experience domestic abuse (relative risk (RR) 1.61, confidence interval (CI) 1.25–2.08). Of victims, 47% disclosed their victimisation to a colleague, while 37% disclosed to a line manager and 27% were abused by a partner who also worked in policing. Although there was no difference in disclosure between males and females, disclosure to a colleague (RR 1.66, CI 1.24–2.13) or a line manager (RR 1.79, CI 1.24–2.58) was more likely if the abuser worked in policing. This paper – the most comprehensive description of domestic abuse victimisation in a policing population – demonstrates that, despite their occupational role as guardians and enforcers of the law, the police workforce experience domestic abuse in similar ways as do the general population. As with the general population, this frequency of victimisation, coupled with the repetitive and continuous nature of domestic abuse and the harm it causes, represents a widespread problem and threat to the wellbeing of the police workforce.
警察可能比其他任何职业都更能见证家庭暴力的背景和后果,但在家庭暴力方面,警察与受害者之间的重叠却鲜为人知。本文基于对英国警察部队中大约四分之一的劳动力(加权n = 876)的调查回应,解决了这一差距。在调查中,受访者描述了个人特征、同事和个人遭受家暴的经历。对数据进行加权以解决无反应模式,我们发现警察队伍中家庭暴力的终生患病率约为22%。女性比男性更容易遭受家庭暴力(相对风险(RR) 1.61,置信区间(CI) 1.25-2.08)。在受害者中,47%的人向同事透露了他们的受害经历,37%的人向直属经理透露,27%的人被同样在警察部门工作的伙伴虐待。尽管男性和女性在向同事(RR 1.66, CI 1.24-2.13)或直属经理(RR 1.79, CI 1.24-2.58)透露情况方面没有差异,但如果施暴者从事警务工作,向同事(RR 1.66, CI 1.24-2.13)透露的可能性更大。这篇论文——对警察群体中家庭暴力受害者的最全面的描述——表明,尽管他们的职业角色是法律的监护人和执法者,但警察队伍经历家庭暴力的方式与一般人群相似。与普通民众一样,受害的频率如此之高,再加上家庭虐待的重复和持续性质及其造成的伤害,构成了一个普遍的问题,并威胁到警察队伍的福祉。