Citation

Hirschel JD, Dean CW, Lumb RC. Justice Q. 1994; 11(1): 99-117.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07418829400092151

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The contribution of domestic violence calls to the danger of police work has been a matter of major concern to police, policy makers, and researchers for decades. Building on prior research, the authors examine three years of data on police calls for service, assault, and injury to determine the danger of domestic violence in relation to other types of calls. Of the 10 categories of police activity examined, domestic disturbance ranked fourth in the ratio of assaults to calls for service and fifth in the ratio of injuries to calls for service. No significant differences were observed in the background characteristics of victims and offenders in domestic disturbance and other incidents. Consequently it was recommended that policies to enhance officers' safety be directed mainly at handling incidents in general rather than being geared specifically to responding to domestic disturbances.