APPROACH TO EVALUATING A POLICE PROGRAM OF FAMILY CRISIS INTERVENTION IN SIX DEMONSTRATION CITIES

• NCJ Number: 37083
• Author(s): P B Wylie; L F Basinger; C L Heinecke; J A Rueckert
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 300 pages
• Grant Number(s): 75-NI-99-0016
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Human Resources Research Organization
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

REPORT ON THE EVALUATION OF POLICE FAMILY CRISIS INTERVENTION (FCI) TRAINING PROGRAMS CONDUCTED AS DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS IN SIX CITIES.

Abstract

THE SIX-CITY FCI PROGRAM EVALUATION WAS UNDERTAKEN TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THESE PROGRAMS HAD ACHIEVED CERTAIN SPECIFIC GOALS AND TO DOCUMENT INFORMATION ABOUT THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMS. AFTER REVIEWING POSSIBLE GOALS FOR EACH OF THE SIX PROGRAMS AND CONSIDERING METHODS FOR DOCUMENTING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES, EIGHT CATEGORIES WERE FORMULATED FOR THE COLLECTION OF DATA. THESE WERE IMPACT DATA, POLICE PARTICIPANT DATA, FAMILY DISTURBANCE REPORTS, REFERRAL AGENCY RECORDS, CITIZEN INTERVIEW SURVEYS, POLICE ADMINISTRATOR DATA, TRAINING DATA, AND TRAINING STAFF INTERVIEWS. FINDINGS INDICATE THAT THE GOALS OF EFFECTING POSITIVE ATTITUDES AMONG OFFICERS BOTH TOWARD THEIR ROLE AS INTERVENERS AND THE UTILITY OF THEIR TRAINING AND INCREASING THE EFFECTIVE USE OF INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN MET. DATA ON THE REDUCTION OF FAMILY-RELATED CRIMES IS INSUFFICIENT TO ESTABLISH RELIABLE TRENDS. THE FINAL CHAPTER OFFERS A CRITIQUE OF THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE SIX TRAINING PROGRAMS WERE DEVELOPED AND PRESENTS AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL, WITH ACCOMPANYING EXAMPLES, FOR THE SYSTEMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE PROGRAMS. APPENDIXES CONTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF POLICE CRISIS INTERVENTION PROGRAMS ESTABLISHED OVER THE PAST NINE YEARS AS WELL AS COPIES OF DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE EVALUATION.