Enhancing Victim Satisfaction in Discontinued Online Crime Reports: A Contemporary Review of Evidence on Police Callbacks

Purpose: Crime reporting is shifting towards technological platforms, such as email and online forms. While this transition promises efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the literature suggests this transition also leads to adverse effects, such as reduced victim satisfaction. Given that reporting a crime is often a victim’s primary contact with the police, Procedural Justice (PJ), the quality of this interaction strongly shapes satisfaction and trust. To address this concern, some police departments have initiated communication strategies. Methods: Contemporary review to examine how police communication strategies can improve satisfaction among victims who report crimes online and later learn their cases were discontinued. A systematic search (2014–2024) identified four trials that met the inclusion criteria: interventions involving communication strategies for discontinued cases, evaluated using rigorous experimental designs. These studies tested follow-up phone calls (‘reassurance callbacks’), personalized letters and specialized victim support programmes. Findings: Proactive communication, particularly follow-up calls, significantly enhances victim satisfaction and perceptions of procedural justice, even when no further action is taken. Victims who received personal contact felt more supported than those who received impersonal or no communication at all. However, adding a second follow-up call did not increase benefits, and short-term trust in the police remained essentially unchanged. Conclusions: Overall, communication interventions appear to be effective in improving victims’ experiences. Simple, low-cost practices such as timely calls can convey care, offer explanations and enhance perceptions of fairness. The police should integrate such strategies into standard procedures for discontinued cases; however, more rigorous research is called for.