“How Should the Police Let Victims Down?” The Impact of Reassurance Call-Backs by Local Police Officers to Victims of Vehicle and Cycle Crimes: A Block Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111221128751
• Author: Ben Clark,Barak Ariel,Vincent Harinam
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2023, Vol. 26(3) 355–378

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10986111221128751

journals.sagepub.com/home/pqx

“How Should the Police Let

Victims Down?”The Impact of

Reassurance Call-Backs by

Local Police Off‌icers to

Victims of Vehicle and Cycle

Crimes: A Block Randomized

Controlled Trial

Ben Clark

1,2

, Barak Ariel

1,3

, and Vincent Harinam

1

Abstract

Most victims’cases are not progressed through the criminal justice system, which is a

phenomenon linked to low satisfaction with police performance. Little is known about

how police can fairly and effectively “let victims down.”One mechanism is a call-back,

which is prevalent in other professions but less so in policing and could be applied

specif‌ically for victims who experience case attrition at early stages. By proactively

contacting victims following their initial report, the call-back may offer reassurance and

lead to improved levels of satisfaction. We tested this approach with 1326 victims of

vehicle and bicycle crimes in a block randomized controlled trial in London, UK. Based

on follow-up telephone surveys, the f‌indings suggest that a reassurance call-back policy

increases the satisfaction of bicycle theft victims by 5%–15%, but not for victims of

vehicle theft, who are largely unaffected by the call-back. The f‌indings are likely driven

by the victims’expectations: vehicle theft victims expect their reported cases to

progress through the justice system, whereas bicycle theft victims do not; thus, the

former remain as disappointed as the participants who did not receive a call-back.

1

Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

2

Metropolitan Police Service, London, UK

3

Institute of Criminology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Corresponding Author:

Barak Ariel, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge CB3 9DA, UK.

Email: ba285@cam.ac.uk

These f‌indings are promising, as they offer a new tool for policing that can provide

more care to victims of crime.

Keywords

call-back, reassurance, policing, victims, expectations, randomized controlled trial,

police satisfaction

Introduction

The overwhelming majority of police reports do not make it to court, and most service

calls are given the status of “no further action”(Off‌ice of National Statistics, 2021).

This is a shared reality across the globe, as evidentiary obstacles, public interest

considerations, and policy guidelines all lead to “many victims get[ing] little or no

further communication from the police or any other CJS [criminal justice system]

agency after they report their crime”(Victim Support, 2011;seealsoNeyroud &

Disley, 2007).

However, we know very little about these victims and what can be done to

enhance their perceptions of the police. National survey data on victims who were

given some level of police service suggest that in 27%–43% of incidents, they are

dissatisf‌ied with the police (Crime Survey for England and Wales, 2021:TableS14).

Yet theperceptions of victims who are left unattended are presently unknown, even

though they form the majority of police-public contacts. We can assume that victims

who received little or no service beyond the initial report would be less satisf‌ied by

both the process as a whole and the outcome of the attrition than victims who

received some level of care (see Strang et al., 2013).

Victim satisfaction is vitally important to future crime reportage and police

legitimacy. Regardless of the outcome, when victims are satisf‌ied with their in-

teraction with law enforcement, they may be more likely to report future crimes

given their prior positive experience (Bradford, 2010;Jackson et al., 2012;Lee

et al., 2019). Victim dissatisfaction may result in an unwillingness or perception of

futility when reporting crimes in the future. As such, it is in the interest of law

enforcement to improve victim satisfaction as this might yield better rates of crime

reportage in the future. Thus, police legitimacy is at least partially contingent on

how victims perceived their experience with law enforcement (Jackson & Sunshine,

2007;Skogan, 2006): Victims that are satisf‌ied with their treatment and the overall

reportage process and feedback are more likely to view law enforcement as more

legitimate.

One possible mechanism that could increase the satisfaction of victims who

encounter the police is a “call-back”policy, which involves actively engaging with

people after their initial contact, regardless of their case status. In other professions,

a call-back policy is part of standard care. For instance, patients are routinely re-

356 Police Quarterly 26(3)