Canadian Psychological Association Conference, Ottawa, June 21 -23, 2024

Symposium moderated by Dr. Mary Ann Campbell, University of New Brunswick

The actions of front-line police officers when responding to intimate partner violence (IPV) calls should be formed by accurate appraisals of violence risk to the victim(s) of these incidents. The current symposium describes a program of research focused on police IPV responding. The first paper will discuss qualitative findings with patrol officers about their experiences of using the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA) for IPW risk appraisal in the field, providing insights into barriers for using this tool in practice. The next paper examines police records to describe how patrol officers respond to IPV calls for service in terms of the legal and non-legal options available to them and the degree to which these responses relate to IPV risk assessed by the officer using the ODARA. The symposium will conclude with a discussion of an alternative method of risk appraisal for police that considers criminogenic-based personality features of suspects as characterized in police records and introduces a new tool for risk appraisal for use by police that may also guide associated interveners in targets for change. Overall, the content of this symposium is relevant to training and policy makers working with police on best practices.

https://convention.cpa.ca/scientific-program/program-schedule-and-themes/