Week 2 Project: Policymaking For Domestic Violence

Domestic abuse is a serious problem. However, one group of offenders may not be treated like anyone else simply because of who they are. This group of offenders is police officers.

You work as a Domestic Violence Officer (DVO) with a mid-sized police department of around 40 officers, located in the suburb of a major city. You faced two situations in the past few months in which the alleged offenders in domestic assaults calls were police officers. These cases were reported by the media and some in the community have questioned the police department’s fairness in handling cases against policemen.

Since you are aware of the problems and dilemmas faced in dealing with the two cases in the absence of any procedures or policies, you decide to write to the chief of the department and recommend developing a policy for handling domestic violence calls when the offender is a law enforcement official.

Write your recommendations in a 4- to 5-page memo in a Microsoft Word document. Your memo should address the following:

• Justify the need for a policy for dealing with acts of domestic violence by police officers.
• Explain the challenges faced in dealing with such cases.
• Suggest procedures for the first responders in such cases.
• Identify precautions to be taken in such cases.
• Spell out how the department can try to prevent domestic violence by police officers.

Your memo should be supported by proper reasoning and analysis.