A.      Intimate Domestic Violence Incidents Resulting in an Arrest

          As mentioned in the previous section, in the year 2006, there were a total of 433 intimate domestic violence incidents reported to the Springdale Police Department, which resulted in an incident report being filed.  Of this total, there were 341 incidents in which an arrest was made or an arrest warrant was later issued, and 92 incidents in which there was no arrest made, nor a warrant issued.  This means an arrest was made or a warrant issued in about 79% of the total intimate domestic violence incidents reported to Springdale Police in 2006.

B.      When Arrest Was Made
          Of the 341 intimate domestic violence incidents that resulted in an arrest or an arrest warrant being issued, 299 (approximately 88%) involved an incident in which the officer made a probable cause arrest fairly quickly after the incident was reported.  Under Arkansas law, an arrest is the preferred action when a law enforcement officer responds to a report of domestic abuse and has probable cause to make an arrest.  The law further provides that in misdemeanor domestic violence cases, a probable cause arrest is authorized within 12 hours on misdemeanors involving injury, and four hours on misdemeanors involving no injury.
         A total of 42 (approximately 12%) persons who were not arrested at the scene of the incident were later arrested or had a warrant issued for their arrest after follow-up was done by the reporting officer or by a detective with the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Springdale Police Department, or the victim came into the City Attorney’s Office to pursue a warrant.  Most of these 42 cases involved an incident in which the offender had left the scene and could not be located by Springdale Police within the required time to make a probable cause arrest.

One interesting statistic that is telling about the dynamics of intimate domestic violence is in all cases in which a law enforcement officer did not make a probable cause arrest within the time allowed under Arkansas law, only 11 victims contacted the City Attorney’s Office, requesting that a  warrant be issued.  In 10 of these 11 cases, a warrant was issued, and in the remaining case it was determined that probable cause did not exist.  Therefore, in only 11 out of 134 cases in which an arrest was not made at the scene by the police, did the victim pursue a warrant through the City Attorney’s Office.  This means that in just over 8% of the cases did the victim pursue a warrant.  Most of the 92 cases in which no warrant was ever issued represent cases in which it was determined a warrant could not be pursued without the cooperation of the victim, and the victim would not cooperate.  These cases usually involve assault cases, where there is no physical injury.
C.      Dual Arrests
          A dual arrest occurs when both intimates are arrested for domestic violence in the same incident.  In 14 incidents, a dual arrest was made, so in 341 incidents, 355 people were arrested or had a warrant issued for their arrest (both intimates being arrested in 14 incidents).  This means a dual arrest was made in about 4% of the total intimate domestic violence incidents in which an arrest was made or a warrant issued.

D.      Charges Made For Crimes of Violence in Intimate Domestic Violence Cases

        There were a total of 355 persons arrested for intimate domestic violence in Springdale during the year 2006, and there were 359 total charges.  Of the 359 total charges, 309 were prosecuted as misdemeanors (about 86% of the total charges were misdemeanors).  The chart on the following page breaks down the exact charges against the offenders.

E.      Comparison of Intimate Domestic Violence Arrests the Last Five Years

The chart below sets out the total number of intimate domestic violence arrests made in Springdale during the past five years.