The rise and fall of emotional intelligence in police risk assessments of domestic abuse

Eason, Anne

Abstract

The policing of domestic abuse is a significant and problematic element of the frontline officer’s everyday business. Finding ways through which we can improve officers’ interactions with female victims has been none more pressing than in the post covid period, as the increase in domestic abuse continues to rise. This paper is based upon research of frontline officers as leaders in the practice of policing domestic abuse across four police areas and their perspective of emotional intelligence in risk assessing domestic incidents. What it revealed is two-fold; firstly, the considerable decline in its use with those officers who have attended multiple incidents of domestic abuse and how this decline has a negative impact on a victim’s long-term protection. Secondly, the motivation to find ways in which emotional intelligence can be reinvigorated and developed as a frontline leadership skill.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 21, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 11, 2023
• Publication Date: Sep 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 12, 2024
• Journal: Crime Prevention and Community Safety
• Print ISSN: 1460-3780
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-4629
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Pages: 305–317
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-023-00178-0
• Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Observed Dissonance, Domestic Abuse, Risk Assessment, Education
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10481605
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41300-023-00178-0