Policing domestic violence: evaluation of the Project 360 intervention

Dr. Jesse Matheson of the Department of Economics has worked with the Leicestershire police force to design and evaluate a new intervention aimed at improving the response to police reported domestic violence. Funding for this study was provided by the Ministry of Justice Police and Crime Commissioner Fund. 

The Project 360 intervention assists victims of police-reported domestic abuse in transitioning from police services to non-police support services. Specifically, following a police callout for domestic violence, victims are assigned an engagement officer. The engagement officer contacts victims within 24 hours and provides assistance accessing the many public support services available to victims such as refuge housing, emotional support, and legal support.

The randomised trial of Project 360 ran from November 2014 to April 2015 and involved more than 1,000 victims of police-reported domestic violence. The evaluation looked at a number of outcomes including victim use of police and non-police services, victim-reported well-being and attitudes towards police, and repeat victimization over two years following the intervention. 

The evaluation of Project 360 has informed policy makers across the UK, in addition to many local police forces, local councils, and non-police organizations.

Outputs

Foureaux-Koppensteiner, M., J. Matheson and R. Plugor, 2019. “Project 360: An intervention to address victim-police engagement in repeat domestic violence cases”, Download the policy report.

Foureaux-Koppensteiner, M., and J. Matheson, 2017. “Improving police response to domestic abuse: Findings from Project 360”, Safe: The Domestic Abuse Quarterly, 59, 4–7. 

Foureaux-Koppensteiner, M., J. Matheson and R. Plugor, 2019. “Understanding Access Barriers to Public Services: Lessons from a Randomized Domestic Violence Intervention”, SERPS working paper no. 2019013.

A summary of this paper is available on the Department of Economics blog. 

Foureaux-Koppensteiner, M., J. Matheson and R. Plugor, 2019. “Domestic Violence Support Services and Repeat Victimization: New RCT Evidence”