‘There is nowhere that you can go, that I can’t find you’: The experiences of women in abusive intimate relationships with serving police officers in England and Wales

Police-perpetrated domestic abuse refers to a range of abusive behaviours – such as violence, sexual assault and coercive/controlling behaviour – committed by serving police officers or police staff members towards intimate partners or family members over the age of 16. This article presents qualitative findings from a small-scale exploratory study, to understand how police-perpetrated domestic abuse is experienced from the perspective of the intimate partner. A sample of ten women in England and Wales took part in in-depth, semi-structured online interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data, to fully explore the unfolding experience of the relationship from the participants’ perspective. Women detailed escalating control and violence, with perpetrators using the techniques, knowledge and resources afforded by their job. Their accounts suggest that police perpetrators were enabled by workplace camaraderie and networks, and that the ‘policing identity’ had elevated symbolic importance to these officers. Reflecting across the findings, we observe how police perpetrators are trusted professionals who may leverage positional and charismatic authority, and thereby ‘mobilise bias’ to conceal or minimise their offending. We suggest that policing organisations draw on the experiences of victims–survivors and counter-mobilise a strategy of connecting ‘low-level concerns’, which may be reported over time by colleagues, family and members of the public. This could help reduce the potential for serious harm by police perpetrators and contribute to rebuilding trust in the police institution.