The First Point of Contact: an Examination of Police-Victim Telephone Interaction, Victim Satisfaction and Communicative Efficiency

Abstract

There is a limited amount of literature within the New Zealand context on Police and on the experience of older crime victims. The current research coalesced and extended these areas by exploring crime victims interactions with the New Zealand Police. Specifically, the current research investigated the perceptions of the Police Communicator and victim toward their interaction, with particular regard to older crime victims. This focus on older victims evolved out of literature on crime victimisation, communication, and victim reactions. This literature suggested that older victims were affected by and reacted differently to victimisation than younger victims, and that older victims' communicative success may be threatened because of age discrimination in interactions. These concepts were investigated at the first point of contact between Police and crime victims, i.e. the telephone call victims make to Police to report a crime incident. Data was collected for both older and younger victims, and comparisons made between them on a variety of measures hypothesised to affect successful police-victim interaction. The success of the interaction was measured by two constructs proposed by the current research, namely, victim's Overall Satisfaction and the Communicative Efficiency of the interaction. The research utilised both qualitative and quantitative analysis of victim questionnaires and telephone transcripts. There were three core sets of hypotheses relating to victim age, victim's Overall Satisfaction, and the Communicative Efficiency of the interaction. Firstly, it was hypothesised that the Communicator would be able to accurately estimate victim age and that the assumptions underlying this estimation would affect both the Communicative Efficiency and victim's Overall Satisfaction. Secondly, victim satisfaction was hypothesised to relate to the personal characteristics of the Communicator, victim demographics, crime resolution, the victim's emotional state, and their perceptions of the Communicator's attitudes/beliefs. Finally, Communicative Efficiency was hypothesised to relate to victim emotion, Communicator-victim perceptions of different age groups, and the personal characteristics of the Communicator. Post-interaction, victim 'willingness to telephone the Police again' was also examined. To test these hypotheses, older and younger crime victims (n=78) were surveyed by questionnaire, as was the Communicator with whom they interacted. Results demonstrated that the Communicator was able to accurately perceive the age of the victim. In addition, victim Overall Satisfaction was related to numerous variables. However, only the victim emotion and Communicator benevolence were significant predictors of Overall Satisfaction. Analysis of the transcripts revealed Communicative Efficiency was related only to older victims' views of younger adults. This was external to the interaction and thus outside the control of the Police Communicator to influence either positively or negatively. Victim 'willingness to telephone the Police again' was predicted by Overall Satisfaction, victim emotion, and Communicator benevolence. From the results, a three-part model (pre-interaction, interaction, post-interaction) was developed that captured the role of Communicative Efficiency and Overall Satisfaction in police-victim interaction. The model illustrated that the first point of contact between Police and victims in the future would be less positive, especially for younger victims. Qualifications and limitations of the research and proposed model are discussed, as are the applied implications for the New Zealand Police and the wider community.