Abstract
It is now widely accepted that living with domestic abuse (DA) can significantly affect children, with the effects of DA continuing to be felt into adulthood. The common conceptualisation of children as passive ‘witnesses’ of DA and the failure to recognise them as direct ‘victims’ in their own right, separate from adult victims, can act as a major barrier for professionals responding to children within this context. The first professionals with whom many child victims of DA come into contact often are members of the police. Yet, little is still known about how children and police officers experience these encounters. The aim of this paper is to conduct a narrative review of the existing literature on the police response to children at DA call outs through the lens of Emotional Intelligence (Goleman 1996). Reviewed studies state that a large number of police officers reported feelings of overwhelm and uncertainty at incidents of DA involving children. Children reported significant differences in empathy of officers, a key tenet of EI, which impacted their feelings of safety and visibility at incidents of DA. DA incidents are an emotionally challenging aspect of police work and most officers do not appear to have the skills to manage this effectively. The significance of speaking with children in these traumatic situations cannot be understated. EI appears to make an important contribution to the overall efficacy of officers at incidents of DA involving children.
Highlights
It is widely accepted that living with domestic abuse (DA) can significantly affect children, with the effects of DA continuing to be felt into adulthood
It is important to explain everything to the children, they have a right to know what is happening. These officers appeared to be more skilled at speaking with children and meeting their emotional needs within this context. These findings demonstrate the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI) based competencies emotional self-awareness, self-control and adaptability – providing officers with the skills and ‘courage’ to manage the difficult and intense emotions they may experience in their encounters with children as well as an awareness of their responsibilities regarding any future criminal investigations (Överlien and Aas 2016)
Based on the findings here, EI may offer a valuable opportunity to improve outcomes for children living with DA and in this new political and social landscape making increasing demands on policing resources, accountability processes and legitimacy
Summary
It is widely accepted that living with domestic abuse (DA) can significantly affect children, with the effects of DA continuing to be felt into adulthood. Most of the harm suffered by children is emotional and/or psychological in nature and concerns have been raised about the inadequate training police officers receive to equip them with the skills necessary to deal effectively with the needs of victims of DA (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) 2014, 2015a; Richardson-Foster et al 2012). Concerns have been expressed about the need for training that targets ‘developing communication skills, including a specific focus on empathy with victims’ (HMIC 2014, p. 23, emphasis added by author)
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