Chula Vista, California
Reducing Repeat Domestic Violence Through Offender- and Patrol-Based Strategies
Site LE Agency
Chula Vista Police Department
Site Researcher
Deborah Weisel, Ph.D., North Carolina Central University
Site Focus
Domestic Violence
SPI Strategy
Problem-oriented policing
Site Cohort
2013
Site Profile
Mid-sized urban area of 49.63 sq. miles with a population of 255,073
Project Overview
The Chula Vista, CA SPI developed the Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) and provided assigned officers a protocol to follow at each Domestic Violence (DV) call involving Intimate Partners (IP).The DV protocol developed was carried out by patrol officers in one sector of the city along with their regular call-handling responsibilities.
- Officers delivered a face-to-face message to subjects in IP-DV calls that were verbal disputes. A different message was delivered to both IP-DV victims and suspects in crimes, while offenders who were arrested received a highly structured warning at the jail from officers.
- Handouts reinforced the verbal messages.
- Both IP-DV victims and suspects were to receive a face-to-face follow-up contact by officers after three days, while subjects involved in IP-DV verbal disputes were to receive a follow-up text after 30 days. Chronic IP-DV subjects, offenders and victims – those who persisted in verbal disputes or crimes despite the messaging – received a customized intervention.
Methods and Findings
Research Design
The study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the impact on crimes, calls, and repeats, assessing whether dyads or locations
– had a subsequent call or crime within 12 months of the initial triggering event.
Findings
- Although the DART initiative was initially designed to reduce repeat IP-DV calls, the initiative had a significant impact on crime – resulting in a 24% drop in DV crimes after one year while the volume of DV calls remained mostly steady.
- While the DART initiative relied on patrol officer time, it was not resource intensive; calls for service (CFS) data indicated that DART officers spent an extra seven to eight minutes on DV CFS.
