Police Response to Family Assault Calls: Gendered Behavior by Officer Sex

Abstract

As the representation of women in law enforcement increases, researchers are more frequently examining whether male and female officers respond differently to policing situations. This study uses the “sameness versus difference” framework to explore gendered behavior, with officer sex (male vs. female) as the measurable indicator in arrest decisions during responses to family assault calls. Using five years of data from a large Southern U.S. sheriff’s office and accounting for officer- and incident-level variation with multilevel modeling, the analysis finds no significant difference between male and female officers in the likelihood of making an arrest. Instead, situational factors like victim injury and time of day, along with individual characteristics of officers, victims, and offenders, play a more influential role in arrest decisions. Neighborhood characteristics have minimal impact. These findings support the perspective of sameness and emphasize the importance of proper statistical modeling to prevent misleading conclusions.