The perceived effectiveness of collaborative approaches to address domestic violence: the role of representation, ‘reverse-representation,’ embeddedness, and resources

ABSTRACT

The Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team (DVERT) program is a mandated collaboration between police and victim advocates. Understanding the determinants of its perceived effectiveness among implementing officers will help illuminate and explain the various ways in which officers carry out their program-related duties. Using survey data collected from officers in a large city with a DVERT program, we find that officers who have i) history of using excessive force, ii) views consistent with a social dominance orientation, iii) insufficient access to job-related resources, and iv) longer tenured careers view DVERT as less effective.

KEYWORDS:

• Mandated collaboration
• domestic violence policy
• representative bureaucracy
• reverse representation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Note that while we expect that men, on average, are more likely to feel this way, it is likely that some women do as well. As shown in past research (Allen 2006; Gibbons 2004; Riccucci, Van Ryzin, and Jackson 2018), an individual’s belief system is often shaped by within-department socialization processes. Through this, an individual’s worldview can, over time, begin to reflect the dominant worldview held by others in the department. For an example, see Wilkins and Williams (2008) study on how socialization processes impact black officers’ views on racial profiling.

2. It should be noted that some research identifies a direct connection between police officers and domestic violence perpetrators, finding that officers are more likely to be involved in domestic violence than the general public (Blumenstein 2009).

3. In general, officers were not provided additional material resources (e.g. funding, training) to implement DVERT. When DVERT launched, victim advocates spent time with officers explaining their DVERT-related roles and ensuring officers were receiving accurate information, but there was no formal training.

4. Please note that the study city is in the early stages of DVERT design and implementation. As such, with available data, we cannot differentiate who has been involved in implementation amongst officers surveyed. However, even ostensibly ‘non-implementers’ are important in the context of program effectiveness, implementation, and police organizations. In tight organizations such as police departments, perceptions and beliefs regarding DVERT may diffuse throughout the organization (Young and Ready 2014; Wejnert 2002).

5. Note that 98.45% of employees in the department are either white or black.

6. Though the effect of Role does not attain statistical significance in any of the presented regression models.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danielle M. McLaughlin

Danielle M. McLaughlin is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on collaborative governance, polycentrism, and the impact of public policies.

Jack M. Mewhirter

Jack M. Mewhirter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. His research seeks to examine the origins, implementation, and impact of public policies. Much of his work is done in the context of regional water governance systems.

James E. Wright

James E. Wright II is an Assistant Professor in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. He is a public management, public policy, and social equity scholar.

Richard Feiock

Richard Feiock is a public administration scholar whose work focuses on local institutions, governance, and sustainability.