Domestic Violence Question

[Sleuth]

Reading some posts from our "non U.S." officers, I have a question. In this country, we have many cases of DV where the female partner often returns to the wife beater. Is this common in the UK and Canada as well? How about the rest of the world?

[Urban Jedi]

Believe me Sleuth, its very very very common!!!!

The locations may be different, but the symptoms of DV are universal. I would say out of maybe 400 plus DV calls I have been to in my sporadic patrol career, NONE of the vics have left the abuser.

As I think most depts do in the US, we have a positive arrest policy for DV abusers. We also have a system whereby charges can still be brought against the offender without any evidence from the victim.

Any DV issues are dealt with by a Community Safety Unit, made up of detectives who have specialised DV training. There is a CSU at every police station in London.

[co911]

In Australia, "domestic violence" is deemed to be crimes committed against family members, as well as those in intimate relationships. So if a brother hits a brother, or a dad, or an uncle etc, that is a DV crime.

[Alpha07]

It's a VERY common problem here in Canada as well... repeat Domestic Disputes from the same household are more then plentiful here :( Most people have a hard time distinguishing when it's "time to leave" cause' they feel they won't find anyone else...

Matt

[leonha2]

Austria was the first state in Europe (probably in the world) with a special

[Sleuth]

Leonha2, what if the husband is the sole owner of the home? Can you order him out of his property?
Some states in the US have changed the law, so the victim is not the complainant, the state is. Thus, the officers arrest the beater, even if the wife does not want to press charges.

[leonha2]

According to our law system (which seens a little different from the British or Anglo-Saxon law system), police and the prosecutor must take action in case of a crime. There is no need the victim presses charges, on the contrary, it is not possible for the victim to say, that he/she does not want to press charges. The reason is, that nobody can influence the victim.

Yes, even the sole owner of the property can be ordered to leave. This action is limited for ten days, within this time period the victim should seek help from the court.

When the law was introduced, we were thinking about the worst case: a man takes a prostitute into his house, then she calls the police and complains that she was beaten. Even in that case the man would have to leave the house, if she insists on it and tells that she has no other place to go. But the department has the possibility to lift the ban within three days, and if not, she would not be in the house for longer than the ten days. Anyway we would check her in our computers, and we would be able to see if she got another place to live (in Austria you have to be registered where you live).

And she would not be able to take any items with here, as police will note her identity, so in case anything is missing the would be the first suspect.

By the way, you can send the guy out, even if no crime was committed. Just one week ago I ordered one guy out of the flat of his girl-friend, because for some months we had to go to that place every second week, because they had an argument.

[Cockney Corner.]

In fact in my force in Britain, we have a positive arrest policy for domestic violence. Where the reporting person calls us alleging he or she has been assaulted by a partner/ex-partner/family member, the partner (etc) will almost certainly be lifted. This is regardless of whether the injured party changes his or her mind on Police arrival and says nothing has happened or they want no Police action - which is what happens half the time. Even where the call just turns out to be a drunken argument, we still have to log the incident as a "non-crime domestic", obtaining full details from everyone involved and recording them on our computer system. And then we have to fill in a sixteen page report ...

Because no one is pressing charges, the "offender" has usually been released from custody before we've completed all of our paperwork about the job.

[leonha2]

You are absolutely right, they are faster out of custody than we are typing our report, even though ours is only 5-6 pages. I

[Cockney Corner.]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by leonha2
[B]when the person has to leave the place (and many of those persons are drunken) he gets mad and doesn

[Sleuth]

Another difference between our cultures, Cockney. I can be as loud as I like in my own home, as long a I don't disturb anyone else. I would have thought that 'the Queen's peace' would be outside, rather than inside, someone's home.
Naturally, if the sound I make disturbs someone else in the home, or someone outside, I would be "creating a public disturbance" or "Distrubing the peace".

Leonha2, have you (or any other officers) ever ordered a female out of a house, because she is the disruptive party?

[leonha2]

Yes, it happend to me once or twice, to order the woman out. I remember one couple last summer. He was about 70 years old, she was 45 years, and guess what? She was cheating him for some months or years. Several times we had to settle verbal arguments, but finally he accused her of having beaten him (although he was not injured), and she was ordered to leave. She was using their home as office, so she had to take her PC and some other stuff when she left, so we was really upset and could not believe what happened. As far as I know, that was the end to their arguments, probably they got divorced.

[TheMP5guy]

Ya they return to their husbands here and when it's time for court, they recant their statement and the charges are tossed. It all makes doing at least 6 hours of paperwork worthwile. Bottom line, CYA.
Reasons: Share kids; financial; false sense of love.

[Sgt Lobster]

Sleuth,

In England and & Wales you can commit a Common Law breach of the peace in both a public or private place. When we attend a domestic and there is no evidence of a crime, somebody frequently gets lifted to prevent a breach of the peace. We then either hold them in custody to appear before the magistrate with a view to a bind over to keep the peace, or release them when things calm down.

We are encouraged take positive action, and the Crown Prosecution Service sometimes prosecutes even if the complainant tries to retract their statement.



Lobster.

[Cockney Corner.]

Sleuth

As you say, that's the difference between the UK and the US. In theory, all land in the UK ultimately belongs to The Queen so regardless of the fact that you own the house and the land, and have the mortgage to prove it, you're still sitting in Her Majesty's house.

However we don't use Breach of the Peace if we can possibly avoid it, partly because you're only liable for a bind-over on conviction (which really isn't anything) and partly because the arrestee has to be taken straight before the court so the arresting officer has to stay on duty until the Courts open or you have to come straight back in.

[PC August]

Originally posted by co911
In Australia, "domestic violence" is deemed to be crimes committed against family members, as well as those in intimate relationships. So if a brother hits a brother, or a dad, or an uncle etc, that is a DV crime.
I am VERY glad we don't have that standard here. It's gotta be an intimate relationship for it to be a domestic.

[Sleuth]

In many (most) states in the US, DV is violence against anyone living in the house. So, we get Mother/Daughter, Sisters, Brothers, Roommates, Same Sex Partners, etc. etc. They all get to ride in the back seat of the police cars.