Violence in the work place: When Police Officers are the Perpetrators

Violence in the Work Place - Police Departments

Domestic violence is 2 to 4 times more common in police families than the general population. In two studies, 40% of police officers self-report that they have used violence against their partners within the last year. In the general population, it's estimated that domestic violence occurs in about 10% of families. A nationwide survey of 123 police departments, 45% had no specific policy for dealing with officer-involved domestic violence. In that same survey, the most common discipline imposed for a sustained allegation of domestic violence was counseling. 19% of departments indicated that officers would be terminated after a second sustained allegation of domestic violence. In San Diego, a national model in domestic violence prosecution, the City Attorney prosecuted 92% of domestic violence cases, 42% of cases where the batterer is a cop.

Special Problems for Victims

Her batterer has a gun.
He knows how to inflict pain and leave no bruises.
He's trained to intimidate by his presence alone.
He has the power to kill her and get away with it, or have others do it for him.
Call the police? He is the police! He tells her that if she does, the officers (colleagues and friends) will believe him-not her. He's right.
He often threatens if she reports him he'll lose his job. If that happens, she's dead.
He has access to surveillance tools, phone taps, scanners, tracking devices, audio - video recording equipment to stalk the victim's activities. The batterer or his fellow officers will often "patrol" the victim's whereabouts. People are afraid of the batterer and won’t get involved.
He knows the location of battered women's shelters.
He knows the court system- district attorneys, judges and bailiffs personally.
Jurors assume police officers would not lie in court.

When Justice Fails

Recently two minors were arrested and convicted of torturing, killing a dog. Both minors were given prison time. A 14 year old was beaten, suffocated by correction Guards in a juvenile boot camp. A young boy is dead, his killers roam the streets free while two minors are serving time for killing an animal. When is an animals life more important, better protected than a humans? I’m not defending the perpetrators who tortured and killed the canine, I’m simply pointing out where society is letting its citizens down. The Guards escaped our court system because they were protected from prosecution because the gang colors they wore were Government issued. We are supposed to trust the people who swore to protect will do just that - Protect us. Instead many fear the Law Enforcement - Court system. Why? Many innocent victims have been prosecuted or let down by both because it is poorly organized, harbor corrupted employees, many use it as a form of vengeance.

Stricter Rules

Statistics show there is concern about violence within State and County departments. What solutions are there to avoid violence within these departments? A mandatory yearly psychiatric evaluation of officers. When a complaint or concern is made it is the companies responsibility to note the information. Discipline must be administered and carried out when noticiable misconduct is apparent/proven. It is important to have on file previous complaints for future use.

No one should be allowed to intimidate their way to freedom.