Summary
"This thesis examines the experiences of frontline police officers responsible for implementing family violence risk assessment, in selected areas of the Waikato District. The study employed face to face semi-structured interviews with frontline police officers and sought accounts of their experiences of responding to family violence and their use of the risk assessment tools. The research found that officers recognise and support the improvement of the police response to victims of family violence. Despite this, the introduction of family violence risk assessment in the Waikato District has achieved limited change. This study found considerable evidence of a discrepancy between management policy and operational practice, as the risk assessment model is neither implemented as intended by police management or for which it was designed. This is the result of issues with training and tensions between management directives and established practice at the frontline. These challenges faced by NZ Police are typical of the problems encountered by police organisations implementing similar reforms in other Western jurisdictions."--Abstract.