Citation

Rollings K, Taylor N. Trends Iss. Crime Crim. Justice 2008; 367.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Australian Institute of Criminology)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As police are often the first point of contact in domestic and family violence incidents they are in a unique position to respond to, intervene in, and be proactive about, preventing family violence. With indications that the volume of recorded violence has increased and the complexity of family violence matters has increased police workloads, police face many challenges in responding in an effective and timely manner to reported incidents. The recent release of a national policing strategy to combat family violence recognises these challenges and reflects a commitment to improve responses and the sharing of information by police and other partner agencies. To know whether there are changes in practice and in outcomes over time, there is a need to identify ways to measure police performance. This paper reports on a number of performance indicators that could be used by police to measure their effectiveness in responding to and reducing family violence. Importantly, the indicators are based on working with police from one jurisdiction to identify what is most relevant and accessible in operational data, as the aim is to have indicators that are both practical and useful. Monitoring these indicators over time will allow police to identify where they are making an impact and how their intervention strategies may be improved.