Violence / Aggression
The Relationship among Intimate Partner Violence Training, Level of Implicit Biases, & Ability to Detect Coercive Control in Police Officers
Marisa Berner, B.A.
Graduate Student
The Pennsylvania State University
Erie, Pennsylvania
Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Penn State Behrend
Erie, Pennsylvania
A better understanding of the efficacy of police training and how to improve an officer’s perspective of intimate partner violence (IPV) are needed to improve community responses to IPV. Rancher, Jouriles, and McDonald (2021) found interactions with officers increased the severity of a survivor’s trauma symptoms even after accounting for severity of IPV. Twis et al. (2018) discovered that officers often do not detect coercive control (CC) when responding to IPV calls. This study examined whether officers could recognize CC and how they would choose to respond to IPV calls, as well as assessing for the prevalence of implicit biases.
Data collected includes scales that assessed conditional reasoning skills and IPV myth acceptance levels. Participants read through anchored coercive control vignettes followed by questions about how the officers would respond. Respondents provided information about their career history and past IPV training.
Data is currently being collected. Initial results on 35 law enforcement officers (Mean Age = 33.8, SD = 7.9) show that there is no correlation between an officer’s ability to recognize CC and past IPV training as well as no correlation between the level of IPV myth acceptance and previous IPV training. We expect to gain further qualitative insight into how officers view IPV and how they choose to respond, further informing us about any potential implicit biases.
The results of this study could inform us about gaps and current level of efficacy in officer training as it relates to IPV, specifically whether their training helps police officers to effectively identify CC and whether they have any implicit biases that affect their treatment of survivors. If our hypotheses are supported, we would gain insight on how to best address officer training so their relationship could help survivors receive access to support and recover from their abuse.
