‘I Just Need to Ask Somebody Some Questions’: Sensitivities in Domestic Dispute Calls

Abstract

Citizen calls to the police to report disputes they are having with close others often involve communicative trouble: shouting, convoluted accounts, and disparaging remarks are frequent. Simply put, calls about domestic disputes are common sites for interactional trouble between citizens and police call-takers. One reason for this, identified three decades ago (Reiss, 1971), is that citizens lack an adequate understanding of the distinction between criminal, civil and private matters. Citizens expect the police to intervene and do whatever a caller regards as morally right. From the police point of view, however, that is not their job. Only certain kinds of complaints are legitimately within their jurisdiction.

A call comes in on 911. A man is hollering saying that a woman needs to be arrested. He states that he was arrested last time and it’s her turn. She is downstairs and has ‘my baby’. The caller notes that there is a restraining order on him but she has come to his place of work. The man is mad. The call-taker says that he can explain it to the officer. The caller seems to expect that since he requested that she be arrested that she will be. The call-taker informs him that the officer will decide what to do when he arrives. The man ends the conversation after this exchange by saying sarcastically, ‘I’ll call you back to chat.’

A man begins a call to the regular police line by asking, ‘Who would I need to speak to? I’m worried about my wife. She needs help for drugs.’ The caller mentions that ‘there’s white stuff in her jewellery box’. He mentions that he tasted it. He goes on to say that she is having an affair, and that the man she is having the affair with has been in their home. The caller notes that they have two kids. He states that at first he didn’t do anything about ‘it’. He goes on to say that a week ago, ‘he lost it’. His wife was attacking him and he hit her back. Because of this, she got a warrant for him. The call-taker keeps asking questions that suggest that the caller has a counselling need; she asks if he wants a referral number to call. The man persists in telling his story. He resists the call-taker’s attempt to frame his problem as a request for information about what telephone number to call.¹