Actitudes hacia el aprendizaje mediante el modelo Flipped Classroom

Police action is dependent upon the level of violence detected and the degree of alliance between police and victims (see Figure 6.1). A strong alliance is associated with compassionate and collaborative police action, which has positive outcomes for police and victims. Communication is enhanced and both victims and police feel heard, understood and valued. As detailed in the subsequent sections of this chapter, when police name and respond appropriately to abuse, victims feel safe, supported, protected, valued, validated, and ultimately, empowered. They begin to gain a new perspective of themselves and their abuser, which ultimately increases their sense of worth and agency and empowers them to take steps towards independence and freedom from violence. When the level of physical violence is high, police action includes invoking formal legal processes to procure protection for the victim and may also include processes to bring the perpetrator before the Court to face criminal charges. When the level of violence does not present concerns for the immediate physical safety of the victim, police action is limited to advice, referral and informal sanctions against abuse. Although the former course of action appears to be most effective in terms of providing safety and protection to the victim, the latter approach, when delivered with support and compassion, can also have an empowering effect on the victim.

Even when police are unable to provide any tangible action, the victim can still experience an alliance as supportive and empowering. For example, after trying

181 unsuccessfully on many occasions to get police to take her seriously when reporting breaches of an intervention order, Sophie felt enormous relief when a policewoman finally understood her concerns and engaged with her in developing some strategies to eventually hold her abusive ex-partner accountable.

Sophie: The last police officer I spoke to said, no, he shouldn‘t be doing that to you. Just hearing that you think, oh great, she gets it. You know, he shouldn‘t be doing that to you. Don‘t worry, he obviously sounds like he‘s cocky. He‘ll slip up soon and we‘ll get him when he does. And I just thought, oh hallelujah. It‘s like a relief when you're believed...So this Constable was really good. She ended up taking me out the back and we had a big chat about it. She‘s taken all the details and said, just ring me. She gave me her name on a card. She said, just ring me. We‘ll nail him. As soon as he does anything major, we‘ll nail him……… She just said look, if ever he drives past your house, you just ring me straight away and we‘ll get him. He‘ll slip up. They all do because he‘s got away with so much…… You‘re not on your own, it‘s ok, I believe what you‘re telling me. I know the mentality.

Sophie described the collaborative approach of the officer, symbolised by penetrating the barrier of the front counter.

Sophie: And it was like taken out the back of the station whereas I can‘t usually get past the front counter. You know, come out here and we‘ll have a chat about it…….. She was just a lot more interested and a lot more

empathetic. She showed empathy towards the situation. She wasn‘t fobbing me off.

In the absence of an alliance, police are more likely to provide a perfunctory service with the primary aim of fulfilling their policing obligations and satisfying their own sense of responsibility. When the level of violence is high, police will apply for a complaint and warrant for an intervention order. The likelihood of criminal charges being initiated and progressed is low without the victim‟s cooperation as a willing witness. Without support and encouragement, there is a higher likelihood that the victim will not follow through to a full hearing of the intervention order application. When the level of physical violence detected is low, police are likely to take a peacekeeping approach to restore order in the case of a crisis call, or in the case of a cold call, police are likely to redirect the victim to other services. Redirection is experienced by victims as dismissive and leaves them feeling unprotected, forsaken, and hopeless. They are deterred from further help-seeking and are likely to retreat to

182 their former isolated, ineffective management strategies. Victims interpret a

peacekeeping approach as evidence that the violence perpetrated against them is not serious enough to warrant police intervention. In both contexts, their status as a victim and someone worthy of help and protection is not validated.

When responding to Lauren, police implemented a peacekeeping approach in the absence of an alliance. Lauren‟s status as a victim was not recognised and her interpretation of the police response was that they did not want to be involved in her attempts to manage the violence in her life or encourage her to seek help from them in the future; they wanted to do the absolute minimum and leave as quickly as possible. They took a peace keeping approach by asking her to leave the house, suggesting she go to her parents‟ for the night, which would ensure the incident was over and eliminate the need for them to return in the immediate future.

Lauren: They told me to leave house because he‘d been drinking, he couldn‘t drive anywhere, even though his mother lived around the street, as I pointed out. They told me to get out of the house. So I was sitting at the foreshore in the car, freezing with a new born baby and a three year old and a ten year old. So what am I doing here, you know? I didn‘t have the money to go to a motel or anything…..This is the position I‘m stuck in. This is my life; that‘s how it made me feel. It made me feel as if it was completely warranted, completely reasonable statement to make; you leave the house, you have to get out……..I don‘t think they listen to either side. I think they get the facts, determine whether or not he‘s got a gun in the house, whether he looks the type where he‘s going to wipe everybody out, which is going to look bad on them because they were called that night... What‘s the minimum we can do here to get out of here? That‘s how their attitude is…….. We were treated as arguing drunk idiots……….If they were going to give me sympathy there was every chance that I would keep ringing them back and taking up more of their time with no intention of actually doing anything about the situation. I know what they were doing. They weren‘t going, oh, you poor thing so that there‘d be every Friday night I‘d give them a call to come around and deal with the naughty man. I mean, they didn‘t want to encourage that kind of behaviour either.

Police often suggest going to a relative or friend when victim status is interpreted as an equally distressed couple, assuming a supportive environment will be provided by her family. However, Lauren‟s case exemplifies that this is not always so. Lempert (1997) found many women experienced a hostile and victim-blaming response when seeking help from such informal sources. Lauren attributed her reluctance to seek help from her parents to feelings of shame and not wanting to

183 burden them. On this occasion, the action taken by police contributed to the

violation of her basic human rights to protection and shelter, and highlights the importance of taking time to ensure the needs of the victim and her children are met.

Figure 6.1. Police action and alliance contingencies