Abuse of Power

THE clearinghouse on police-perpetrated domestic violence

...As advocates, we're forced to re-evaluate our standard interventions

Working with Victims in Law Enforcement

EXCERPT from When the Batterer Is a Law Enforcement Officer: A Guide for Advocates (The complete Guide (96 pgs) is available in PDF format at no charge through the Battered Women's Justice Project.)

Personal Is Professional

Female police officers face an ongoing struggle for acceptance and respect in the male-dominated profession of policing. In many jurisdictions, women are few in number — there may be only one female officer. To win acceptance and respect, women are continually required to demonstrate that they can handle a "man's job." In this environment, a female officer who is being abused feels a great deal of pressure to hide what is happening.

The far-reaching effects of abuse often wreak havoc with her professional performance. For example, she may take excessive leave time or frequently be late for work. She may be forced to make excuses for damage to her uniform or equipment, for her physical injuries. She is likely to have little hope that she can escape the situation on her own, yet she knows that telling anyone at work about the abuse means repercussions on the job.

Abuser Strategies

When abuser is a civilian

People may doubt that a civilian abuser can dominate, coerce, or batter a police officer. He may use her professional status to convince advocates, responding officers, or a prosecutor that she is really the abuser. He might physically threaten her, and then accuse her of aggression when she responds with professional self-defense. He knows that accusations of use of force can threaten her job. He knows that he can potentially destroy her career if he can get an order of protection.

When both are officers

There are additional complications when both the victim and batterer are in law enforcement. Reporting the abuse exposes her private life to intense scrutiny. Both their careers can be damaged if she proceeds with a complaint. The abuser is likely to apply relentless pressure and threats [personal account] to make her recant and withdraw her complaint. Lethality risks multiply. Both have been trained to use weapons and tactics that can be used to attack another and defend oneself.

Lesbian relationship

The victim faces another layer of barriers to seeking help if she is in a same-sex relationship. Most communities have few or no resources for lesbian victims of battering. Where they exist, the abuser may contact the advocacy organization and convince staff that she is the victim. Responding officers and others may label the situation "mutual combat," assuming both parties have equal power in the relationship as lesbians and as officers. If the victim is not already open with her co-workers and others, she may fear that the abuser will disclose their relationship. Being outed may impact a divorce or custody action. Supervisors, colleagues, family and friends may reject her, or feel betrayed or let down because she was not open with them about her sexual orientation.

Multiple Barriers

We must be sensitive to the many reasons it's difficult for a female officer to seek help from family, friends, and/or service providers. If a victim wants counseling or shelter, she will probably seek help in another community where she can maintain anonymity. There are many barriers to using services in her home community:

  • She is professionally embarrassed to be seen as personally vulnerable. She fears that people will lose confidence in her professional ability to protect them.
  • She remains protective of the abuser and the department's reputation.
  • She fears that zealous advocates will pressure her to make a complaint.
  • She fears that the relationship between the department and the DV agency will bias advocates.
  • She may not trust that her identity will be kept confidential.
  • The abuser, if also an officer, may know the shelter location and perhaps the advocates.
  • She does not want to put staff or other victims at risk.

We must also understand the potential negative consequences the victim may face if she reports the abuse to her superior officers. Officer-involved domestic violence policies vary in their consideration of officers who are victims. While intended to protect the victim from harm and the department from liability, some policies have unintended negative consequences. Policies that mandate the victim to report the abuse, mandate her colleagues to report knowledge of her situation, and/or mandate the petitioner of a protective order to report the action may prevent some victims from seeking help.

She may not want to open her life to scrutiny by her employer. She may not intend to end the relationship with her intimate partner. By failing to report previous incidents, she may have violated the department's mandate to report the abuse and fear that her job is now jeopardized if she seeks help. She may not want to put her colleagues in the position of having to report the abuse. She might fear that superiors and other officers will doubt her ability to function as an officer.

The department is likely to order a fitness-for-duty evaluation or order her to attend counseling, either of which become part of her permanent file. Supervisors may place her on administrative or medical leave. She may be ordered to cooperate with an investigation that is likely to be more focused on shielding the department from liability than supporting her and holding the abuser accountable.

If she goes to the department for help, she may be shunned by colleagues for breaking the "code of silence" by informing on another officer. Her report may be treated as "she said, he said," her word against his. As a female officer she is already the other in the organization and is unlikely to have the same credibility as a male officer. Some officers may directly condone the abuser's behavior and collude with the abuser to interfere with the investigation or intimidate and harass her. She may become increasingly isolated and not be able to count on other officers to provide back-up.

She may be ordered to cooperate with any internal investigation. If she tells the investigator everything, she risks disciplinary action for both herself and the abuser. If she withholds information that investigators discover later, she may face discipline or termination.

Safety Planning and Advocacy

The officer and her advocate can request that the police department develop a safety plan for her, both on and off duty. This should include a thorough risk and lethality assessment. It might also include allowing her to take a leave of absence without loss of pay or seniority. Every effort must be made to ensure that the safety plan does not punish her with loss of status, loss of pay, or unnecessary inconvenience or hardship.

Where the abuser is in the same department, the safety plan should include measures to separate the victim and abuser on the job. It might include an Administrative Order of Protection against the abuser and/or transferring the abuser to a different shift or assignment, or reassigning the victim (without a loss of pay or seniority). The safety plan might include assigning another officer to ride with her and/or the abuser while on duty. Off duty, the department can place the victim on a drive-by watch, with her permission.

If the department mandates her to get counseling, we can support her request to receive counseling at the local domestic violence agency instead of through an Employee Assistance Program, department counselor, or department chaplain. A counselor who has expertise in domestic violence issues will help keep her safety and well-being as the focus and first priority. In addition, her confidentiality is protected as the counselor does not report to the department.

A civil order of protection can be an effective method of warning an abusive officer to restrain from further violence. If the victim is considering this option, she needs to know whether her department's policy mandates the petitioner to inform the department of the order. This requirement may deter her from obtaining an order because she may not want to notify the department.

A victim in law enforcement will try to avoid calling 911. She is typically embarrassed to admit that she is being battered, and knows that it will open her life to scrutiny by her employer. She also knows that officers are loathe to respond to a domestic at another officer's home, and do not want to be in situations where they may have to arrest a colleague. If police are called — whether by the victim or her child or a neighbor — responding officers may be conflicted about whom to believe. They may be confused in determining the predominant aggressor, particularly if both parties are police officers and no policy or protocol guides arrest decisions.

Prosecutors may be reluctant to pursue charges if her case becomes a criminal matter. Prosecutors and other interveners may not believe that an armed police officer can be a victim in her own home. Her department may pressure her not to pursue criminal charges, particularly if the abuser is also an officer. If there was a 911 call and arrest, responding officers are drawn into testifying in a case that affects their own department, colleagues and friends. She may be reluctant to participate in any prosecution, particularly if she has to disclose intimate details of her life in front of her colleagues.

Resources

The book Crossing the Threshold: Female Officers and Police-Perpetrated Domestic Violence may help you gain a better understanding and perspective on how male officers' institutional power filters down into their intimate relationships. This book also speaks to any victim who encounters abusers of power — attorneys, judges, military and public officials.

In addition, the article Female Officers as Victims of Police-Perpetrated Domestic Violence is available through BWJP at no charge. It explores how the expectations and values of the female officer's profession and workplace culture influence her behavior and decisions regarding her abusive relationship.

And please, don't hesitate to call or write us. We're here to help — whether you have just one question or are interested in training for your agency.