Duluth Model

In 2005, the Bureau of Justice Statistics did a study that of the almost 3.5 million crimes in America violent crimes committed against family members , 49% of these were crimes against spouses. A police officer how responds to a domestic violence call can be a life or death situation. They must be able to recognize when an abusive situation is happening even without physical evidence. In other cases the abuser will not answer the door if he see the officer at the door. In the 1980’s the response was very little to the domestic violence. If the police could get the abuser to stop abusing the spouse then that was it nothing happen the police would leave it at that, they wouldn’t do anything else , saying job well done. Other cops would tell the abuser to leave for the night so he could cold down
In 1984 a new more aggressive policy to guide the police to the domestic cases . The new policy did not make mandatory arrest but the officer was required to explain their reasons for not making an arrest if probable cause existed to do so. The next one is called The Duluth Model. Involving law enforcement, the courts, the local prosecutor’s office, mental health agencies, and domestic shelters and advocacy programs. This model is guided by four strategic programs . The first is all agencies involved in issues of domestic violence must be coordinated in their response , and must have enough interagency agreements in place to support the goal and allow for effective communication between the agencies involved. Requiring agencies provide cross-training to other member agencies to order to ease full integration of their mission. The second strategic principle is the coordinated response must be victim's safety centered. Policies and protocols established by member agencies must be established with the central goal in mind. Developed to measure the efficacy and success of the various practices carried out by all the agencies monitoring and tracking systems should be