When it comes to police brutality, most people associate the term with civilians. But research shows that cops also inflict damage at home at a startling rate.
In fact, statistics show that police officers in the United States commit acts of domestic violence at about 15 times the rate of the rest of the population. However, many victims don’t know where to go to talk about the abuse they suffer at the hands of law enforcement.
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Alex Roslin wrote Police Wife: The Secret Epidemic of Police Domestic Violence and can speak to some of the truly unbelievable stories concerning this underreported topic. In 1991, a sociologist suggested that more than one-third of the 900,000 law enforcement officers in the U.S. were committing acts of abuse.
A deeper dive into alleged cases of domestic violence cases brought against police officers revealed a startlingly low conviction rate.
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In an in-depth Q&A session, Roslin answered some critical questions about the issue of domestic violence amongst the law enforcement community.
In particular, his response to why domestic violence is happening revealed some of the false narratives about the topic.
Abuse is an open secret among police officers. Many officers claim that it’s the result of a stressful job.
But in my research and in talking to domestic violence researchers, it becomes clear that stress doesn’t really cause abuse.
There are lots of stressful jobs. Paramedics and surgeons and fire fighters don’t have this kind of problem.
As a father himself, Roslin has had to explain his work to his children. And with a wife who has two retired police officers as uncles, Roslin knows firsthand that law enforcement officers are humans too.
And as is the case with nearly every facet of society, there’s a dark side to every story.
What is your take on police brutality both at home and in the workplace? Is there an explanation for the problem? Weigh-in with your thoughts below.
