NCJ Number
190646
Date Published
July 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the accomplishments of a project conducted by the Niagara County (NY) Sheriff’s Department to improve the handling of domestic violence cases.
Abstract
The report notes that the program enhanced domestic violence investigation capabilities by providing deputies with additional training, screening all incident reports daily, and other actions. It also enhanced law enforcement and prosecution coordination and improved victim services. The program resulted in a reduction in defective Domestic Incident Reports from 56.9 percent in 1997 to 4.7 percent in the last 18 months of the study. The increase in the percentage of arrests was lower than the target increase, but this result stemmed from officers’ training and classifying as domestic violence many incidents previously considered minor incidents even as overall crime reporting was declining. Finally, a victim survey revealed victims’ increased feelings of safety were accompanied by negative opinions of the police as appearing too aggressive. However, the increase from 18.5 percent to 55.8 percent in victims’ overall satisfaction with their case outcomes offset this negative opinion of the police and indicated the success of the team approach.