The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act of 1984
(FVPSA) provided funding, through the Office of Victims of Crime in
the United States Department of Justice, for 23 law enforcement
training projects across the nation from 1986 to 1992. FVPSA was
enacted to assist states in (1) developing and maintaining programs
for the prevention of family violence and for the provision of shelter
to victims and their dependents and (2) providing training and
technical assistance for personnel who provide services for victims of
family violence. The National Institute of Justice awarded a grant to
the Urban Institute in late 1992 to evaluate the police training
projects. One of the program evaluation methods the Urban Institute
used was to conduct surveys of victims in New York and Texas. The
primary objectives of the survey were to find out, from victims who
had contact with law enforcement officers in the pre-training period
and/or in the post-training period, what their experiences and
evaluations of law enforcement services were, how police interventions
had changed over time, and how the quality of services and changes
related to the police training funded under the FVPSA. Following the
conclusion of training, victims of domestic assault in New York and
Texas were surveyed through victim service programs across each
state. Similar, but not identical, instruments were used at the two
sites. Service providers were asked to distribute the questionnaires
to victims of physical or sexual abuse who had contact with law
enforcement officers. The survey instruments were developed to obtain
information and victim perceptions of
the following key subject areas: history of abuse, characteristics of
the victim-abuser relationship, demographic characteristics of the
abuser and the victim, history of law enforcement contacts,
services
received from law enforcement officers, and victims' evaluations of
these services. Variables on history of
abuse include types of abuse experienced, first and last time
physically or sexually abused, and frequency of abuse. Characteristics
of the victim-abuser relationship include length of involvement with
the abuser, living arrangement and relationship status at time of last
abuse, number of children the victim had, and number of
children at home at the time of last abuse. Demographic variables
provide age, race/ethnicity, employment status, and education level of
the abuser and the victim. Variables on the history of law enforcement
contacts and services received include number of times law
enforcement officers were called because of assaults on the victim,
number of times law enforcement officers actually came to the
scene, first and last time officers came to the scene, number of times
officers were involved because of assaults on the victim, number of
times officers were involved in the last 12 months, and type of
law enforcement agencies the officers were from. Data are also included on
city size by population, city median household income, county
population density, county crime rate, and region of state of the
responding law enforcement agencies. Over 30 variables record the
victims' evaluations of the officers' responsiveness, helpfulness, and
attitudes.