TY - JOUR
T1 - Involving Police Departments in Early Awareness of Concussion Symptoms during Domestic Violence Calls
AU - Higbee, Mark
AU - Eliason, Jon
AU - Weinberg, Hilary
AU - Lifshitz, Jonathan
AU - Handmaker, Hirsch
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Hickey Family Foundation. The authors are grateful to Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery for leadership, insight, and support to initiate the MC3DV program. ConQVerge devices were purchased with a grant from the Hickey Family Foundation. Funding Information: The authors are grateful to Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery for leadership, insight, and support to initiate the MC3DV program. ConQVerge devices were purchased with a grant from the Hickey Family Foundation. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Police officers around the world respond to and investigate calls regarding domestic violence (DV) daily. Police departments operate with standard protocols, particularly when engaging in investigations that involve allegations of strangulation or sexual assault. Operating under advisement of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the Mesa Police Department (Mesa, AZ) has established protocols for detecting, recording, and prosecuting DV cases that involve strangulation and sexual assault. Allegations of strangulation (defined as impeded breathing) or sexual assault prompt officers to offer a forensic nursing exam (FNE) combined with strangulation treatment by forensic nurses at the Mesa Family Advocacy Center. Recognizing the potential for head injury to the assault victim in all DV situations, including intimate partner violence (IPV), the police department has added concussion-awareness training, as well as a point-of-incident investigative tool for its officers to record neurological function of the victim. Officers were instructed to use the ConQVerge device to measure and record the Near Point of Convergence (NPC) as a test of neurological impairment in suspected head injuries. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for assisting victims of DV strangulation and sexual assault (including non-DV sexual assault) with on-site assessment and consent for further medical assessment and treatment. Additionally, rates of domestic assault victims that report a crime, but decline to follow through with forensic medical tests, are reported for the first time. Lessons learned from the project that inform strategic operations in this space are offered to other agencies prior to the implementation of similar procedures.
AB - Police officers around the world respond to and investigate calls regarding domestic violence (DV) daily. Police departments operate with standard protocols, particularly when engaging in investigations that involve allegations of strangulation or sexual assault. Operating under advisement of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the Mesa Police Department (Mesa, AZ) has established protocols for detecting, recording, and prosecuting DV cases that involve strangulation and sexual assault. Allegations of strangulation (defined as impeded breathing) or sexual assault prompt officers to offer a forensic nursing exam (FNE) combined with strangulation treatment by forensic nurses at the Mesa Family Advocacy Center. Recognizing the potential for head injury to the assault victim in all DV situations, including intimate partner violence (IPV), the police department has added concussion-awareness training, as well as a point-of-incident investigative tool for its officers to record neurological function of the victim. Officers were instructed to use the ConQVerge device to measure and record the Near Point of Convergence (NPC) as a test of neurological impairment in suspected head injuries. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for assisting victims of DV strangulation and sexual assault (including non-DV sexual assault) with on-site assessment and consent for further medical assessment and treatment. Additionally, rates of domestic assault victims that report a crime, but decline to follow through with forensic medical tests, are reported for the first time. Lessons learned from the project that inform strategic operations in this space are offered to other agencies prior to the implementation of similar procedures.
KW - DV
KW - assessment
KW - intimate partner violence
KW - officers
KW - sexual assault
KW - strangulation
KW - traumatic brain injury
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U2 - 10.1080/10926771.2019.1653412
DO - 10.1080/10926771.2019.1653412
M3 - Article
SN - 1092-6771
VL - 28
SP - 826
EP - 837
JO - Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma
JF - Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma
IS - 7
ER -