Improving police risk assessment and management of family violence through a collaboration between law enforcement, forensic mental health and academia

Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice,Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2017. Purpose Police play an essential role in reducing harms associated with family violence by identifying people at increased risk of physical or mental health-related harm from family violence and linking them with support services. Yet police are often poorly trained and resourced to conduct the kind of assessments necessary to identify family violence associated with increased risk. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes a multi-project collaboration between law enforcement, forensic mental health, and academia that has over three years worked to improve risk assessment and management of family violence by police in Victoria, Australia. Findings Evaluation of risk assessment instruments used by the statewide police force showed they were ineffective in predicting future police reports of family violence (AUC = .54-.56). However, the addition of forensic psychology expertise to specialist family violence teams increased the number of risk management strategies implemented by police, and suggested that the B-SAFER risk assessment instrument may be appropriate for use by Australian police (AUC = .63) Practical implications - Police risk assessment procedures should be subject to independent evaluation to determine whether they are performing as intended - Multidisciplinary collaboration within police units can improve police practice - Drawing on expertise from agencies ...
Source: Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice - Category: Criminology Source Type: research