Improving Police Data Collection to Measure Repeat Demand: A Focus on Domestic Violence and Abuse

Targeting police resources at repeat demand may reduce overall demand. To effectively target resources at repetition requires repeat demand to be accurately measured in police data. Using domestic violence and abuse (DVA) as a case study of repeat demand, this study takes a deep dive into the data and information systems used by one police force to identify the key issues that prevent the effective measurement of repeat DVA-related demand. From observations of the police response to DVA and manual review of 325 DVA case files, four key issues are identified: (1) fragmented units of measurement across multiple information systems; (2) inconsistent recording of personal details; (3) multiple methods of identifying DVA; and (4) the embedding of information in free-text. This paper makes recommendations to improve the measurement of repeat demand in police data, with implications for police practitioners and researchers.