Despite the high incidence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States, perpetrator accountability remains a problem. Research suggests this is partially attributable to underreporting linked to the perceived unhelpfulness of police. The purpose of this research study was to understand survivors and service providers’ lived experiences with police in a mandatory arrest state. Purposive sampling was utilized to conduct in-depth, semi-structured focus groups and interviews with 43 survivors and 59 service providers from March 2016 to February 2017. Data analysis consisted of line-by-line analysis, identifying themes, coding categories, and developing matrices to uncover relationships between themes and categories. Participants deliberated police failure to adequately respond to IPV-related calls. While survivors’ interactions with police were consistently negative, service providers’ experiences were more mixed. Police response was deemed worse in rural areas due to limited capacity and social relationships with perpetrators. Five major themes were identified, including: (1) inadequate police response, (2) amplified hurdles in rural communities, (3) predominant aggressor incongruity, (4) protective orders fail to protect, and (5) Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) working relationships. Mandatory arrest policy sometimes results in the criminalization of survivors. Police require trauma-informed training that will assist in their determination of the predominant aggressor. Findings indicate that the LAP has been effective in strengthening service provider/police relationships, and expansion should be considered. Quantitative and longitudinal research is needed to examine the fidelity of the LAP and its effectiveness in decreasing the incidence of IPV-related homicide.

尽管在美国亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）发生率很高，但肇事者追究责任仍然是一个问题。研究表明，这部分归因于与警察无助感有关的漏报。这项研究的目的是了解幸存者和服务提供者在强制逮捕状态下与警察的亲身经历。自2016年3月至2017年2月，目的性抽样被用于进行深入，半结构化的焦点小组讨论，并对43位幸存者和59位服务提供者进行访谈。数据分析包括逐行分析，确定主题，编码类别和制定揭示主题和类别之间关系的矩阵。与会者考虑了警察未能充分响应与IPV相关的电话的问题。尽管幸存者与警察的互动一直是负面的，但服务提供者的经历却更加复杂。由于能力有限以及与犯罪者的社会关系，在农村地区警察的反应被认为较差。确定了五个主要主题，其中包括：（1）警察的反应不足，（2）农村社区的障碍加剧，（3）侵略者行为不统一，（4）保护令得不到保护，以及（5）杀伤力评估计划（LAP）工作关​​系。强制逮捕政策有时会导致幸存者定罪。警察需要接受创伤方面的培训，这将有助于他们确定主要的侵略者。调查结果表明，LAP在加强服务提供商/警察之间的关系方面是有效的，应考虑进行扩展。