“I CAN’T CALL THE POLICE – HE IS THE POLICE!”

This is a great compilation of information from another site that discusses how difficult it is for victims of police officer-involved domestic violence to escape it. There are links to some thought-provoking articles.

I’ve lived this and made this topic the focus of my M.A. in forensic psychology. When you stand up to an abusive cop, you are not only standing up to someone who can hide behind their “good guy” badge, but a whole subculture, union, and/or police department. Not only am I well-acquainted with that, but I left my longtime law enforcement job after being targeted by a supervisor I strongly suspected of abusing a family member. They capitalized on the bias that existed for my “betraying a cop”to try to shut me down so I wouldn’t be believed when I reported them.Rather than ask me what actually happened, that agency shut me down in my exit interview and then committed perjury so that I was denied unemployment benefits, saying that I made everything up. A year later, the person I was concerned about died as I had predicted. Coincidence?

Domestic violence is more common in cop relationships than the general population and arguably more dangerous. While many departments enacted officer-involved domestic violence policies in the wake of the Brame case, that does not mean conditions have improved for victims. Those are words, not actions. Until law enforcement agencies get serious about purging their agencies of domestic violence, and stop tormenting victims who choose to stay alive and get out, this disgusting lack of accountability to the public will continue, and cops who terrorize others at home will continue to respond to calls for service in which they are required to help domestic violence victims. That is a sick but preventable irony.

Be sure to check out Behind the Blue Wall to get a feel of just how common domestic violence and homicide is in policing families.