Informing Collaborative Interventions: Intimate Partner Violence Risk Assessment for Front Line Police Officers

Police officers have a unique opportunity to administer risk assessment at the scene of intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents. This article examines the predictive validity of two IPV risk assessments developed for administration by front line police officers and intended to inform collaborative interventions between the criminal justice and social service systems. The Lethality Screen and the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE) are short forms of the Danger Assessment and, although similar, function differently and have different uses. The higher specificity of the DA-LE makes it appropriate for informing interventions focused on offender accountability. The high sensitivity of the Lethality Screen casts a wide net to educate and offer advocacy services to victim-survivors of IPV. Using technology to integrate IPV risk assessment within an evidence based practice framework may inform targeted collaborative interventions that reduce future IPV and femicide.