Implementing evidence-based practice in policing family violence:The reliability, validity and feasibility of a risk assessment instrument for prioritising police response

Abstract

ABSTRACT Frontline police officers who attend domestic violence incidents face a considerable challenge in effectively determining the extent to which limited police resources should be invested in further assessment and management of a case to ensure safety. Assessing the risk of future family violence has been proposed as a way of deciding which cases police should focus their management efforts on. However, risk assessment based on police judgement alone has been shown to be inaccurate, leading to the use of structured risk assessment instruments in many jurisdictions. This paper reports the results of three separate studies that were designed to assess the reliability, predictive validity and feasibility of one such instrument; the Victoria Police Screening Assessment for Family Violence Risk (VP-SAFvR). The VP-SAFvR is an actuarial tool intended to assist police decision making in family violence cases. The first study indicated that the VP-SAFvR had excellent reliability. The second study, a prospective study of 3963 cases demonstrated moderate predictive validity. The final study, based on surveys and focus groups suggested that the tool was viewed as easy to use by the majority of police surveyed. However, they identified some problems in implementation that could be improved to enhance the feasibility of using such instruments in the field. The results demonstrate that structured risk assessment can be used to assist police decision making in a way that is timely, feasible and reasonably accurate.