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11 Am. J. Police 53 (1992)
What Do Citizens Want Police to Do at Domestics: Enforce the Law or Provide Services?

handle is hein.journals/ajpol11 and id is 257 raw text is: American Journal of Police Vol. XI, No. 3 1992 53 WHAT DO CITIZENS WANT POLICE TO DO AT DOMESTICS: ENFORCE THE LAW OR PROVIDE SERVICES? Michael G. Breci John E. Murphy St. Cloud State University Police policy on officer response to domestic disturbances has changed dramatically over the last two decades. Prior to the middle 1970s, police response was characterized by officers' non-involvement in family affairs (Martin, 1976; Roy, 1977). Problems that occurred within the home were perceived as personal matters best resolved by the participants themselves. This attitude dominated not only the thinking of police organizations, but societal institutions as well (Pagelow, 1985). In the 1970s, critics of the role police officers tradi- tionally played in family conflict situations were instrumental in facil- itating changes in the training that officers received. Police depart- ments instituted training that sensitized officers to the issues involved in family violence while providing them with skills in mediation, coun- seling and referral (Buchanan & Chasnoff, 1986). These changes in attitudes and training, however, did not stem the growing tide of criti- cism directed at the police (Oppenlander, 1982; Brown, 1984; Bell, 1985). Critics of the training philosophy contended that the police role in family violence situations was to enforce the law, not counsel or me- diate. During the 1980s, many police departments implemented mandatory or presumptive arrest procedures in response to the criti- cisms (Sherman et al., 1986). Recent research, however, questions the claims made by mandatory arrest advocates as to the effectiveness of this response in reducing family violence (Dunford, Huizinga, & El- liott, 1989; Hutchison & Hirschel, 1990; Breci, 1991). These criticisms will affect policy decisions regarding police response in the 1990s.

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