DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06787.v1
title: Victims' Ratings of Police Services in New York and Texas, 1994-1995 Survey
title: Version 1

description: 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.
description: The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act
 of 1984 (FVPSA) provided funding, through the Office of Victims of
 Crime in the 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 provision of immediate shelter and
 assistance to victims and their dependents, and (2) providing training
 and technical assistance for personnel who provide services for
 victims of family violence. This training included regionally-based
 training and technical assistance for local and state law enforcement
 personnel to develop and implement training programs, and to
 disseminate information on improved responses to family violence
 incidents. 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 surveys provided
 quantifiable data on law enforcement responses to domestic violence
 calls from the perspective of the ultimate beneficiaries of the
 training projects, the victims served by law enforcement
 personnel. 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. Information obtained about the effects of the training projects
 conducted in these states offered recommendations for future police
training and policy development efforts.
description: FVPSA training in New York was awarded to the New
 York Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence for the period
 October 1990 to March 1993. The Texas Center for Law Enforcement
 Education received the grant in Texas and was funded from September
 1991 to February 1993. A total of 242 executives and trainers and 540
 officers attended the training sessions in Texas. Following the
 conclusion of law enforcement training, victims of domestic assault
 were surveyed through victim service programs across each state. Every
 program serving victims of domestic violence in New York and Texas was
 mailed a package containing a cover letter from the local advocacy
 organization, ten copies of the survey, and a return envelope. New
 York programs also received a cover letter and survey instructions in
 a question-and-answer format from the Urban Institute. Service
 providers were asked to distribute the questionnaires to victims of
 physical or sexual abuse who had contact with law enforcement
 officers, and to provide assistance or instructions as needed. A
 total of 128 programs received 1,240 surveys. In New York, the
 advocacy organizations provided a list of service programs, and most
 of the packages were mailed directly from the Urban Institute in late
 January 1995. Postage-paid return envelopes were provided for mailing
 the surveys back to the Institute by the requested deadline of March
 1, 1995. In Texas, the advocacy organization mailed the survey
 packages to the 62 programs across the state in mid-December
 1994. Completed surveys were mailed back to the advocacy organization
 by late January 1995 and then forwarded to the Institute. Follow-up
 postcards were mailed in late February and early March to programs in
 both states that had not returned any completed surveys, requesting
 their cooperation and extending the deadline to March 31, 1995. The
 final sample of eligible respondents consisted of 547 victims, 326
 contacted through 53 programs in New York, and 221 contacted through
 33 programs in Texas. All returned surveys were logged in, reviewed
 for eligibility, and edited for clarification as necessary upon
 receipt. Eligible surveys were then numerically coded and entered into
 an automated database. Data entry was subjected to complete
 verification of 20 percent of the cases. Somewhat different response
 formats for certain survey items were used at the two sites, but data
 for these items were coded to permit cross-state comparisons where
 appropriate. Additional cleaning procedures occurred during the early
 phase of analysis, in which anomalous data were checked against the
original source and changes were made in the raw data file as needed.
description: Variables on history of abuse include types of
 abuse experienced, first and last time physically or sexually abused,
 and frequency of abuse. Demographic variables provide age,
 race/ethnicity, employment status, and education level of the abuser
 and the victim. Characteristics of the victim-abuser relationship
 cover length of involvement with the abuser, living arrangement and
 relationship status at time of last abuse, the number of children the
 victim had, and the number of children at home at the time of last
 abuse. Variables on the history of law enforcement contacts and
 services received include the number of times law enforcement officers
 were called because of assaults on the victim, the 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 the 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 reponding law
 enforcement agencies. Over 30 variables record the victims'
 evaluations of the officers' responsiveness, helpfulness, and
attitudes.
description: Response Rates: Since the service program was used as the
 sampling unit and victims were recruited through programs, response
 rates were computed as the proportion of programs that returned
 completed questionnaires. The response rate from New York programs was
 41 percent, and in Texas the response rate was 53 percent. From the
 ten surveys sent to each program, the programs returned from one to 23
 completed surveys each, for an average of 6.4 usable surveys per
program.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: New York and Texas were chosen as survey sites for several
 reasons: (1) The high level of training dissemination in both states
 increased the likelihood that victims in the survey might have
 encountered officers exposed to training experiences and materials
 related to the FVPSA training activities. (2) Victim advocacy groups
 in each state were planning or had conducted similar surveys and could
 provide access to victim service programs and their clients. (3) The
 two states provided diversity in both geographical location and
 population demographics. (4) The two represent the second and third
 most populous states in the nation and the two most populous states to
 receive FVPSA training grants. A total of 128 programs received 1,240
 surveys. The final sample of eligible respondents consisted of 547
 victims, 326 contacted through 53 programs in New York, and 221
contacted through 33 programs in Texas.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Victims' Ratings of Police Services in New York and Texas, 1994-1995 Survey
description: Victims of domestic violence in New York and Texas.