Exploring the subjective experiences of police detectives working with the families of victims of intimate femicide in South Africa

Abstract

Existing literature on occupational stress and police work fails to reveal the traumatic and violent experiences of police officers working in specialised units. Thus, as an attempt to fill the research gap, the study explored the subjective experiences of police detectives working with the families of victims of intimate femicide in South Africa. The research study used a qualitative research method with a descriptive phenomenological research design. Eight police detectives in the Gauteng area were purposefully sampled. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study found that police detectives face a number of challenges and are exposed to a substantial amount of violence and find themselves playing dual roles when working with the families of victims of intimate femicide. Such instances have an impact on the wellbeing of police detectives resulting in acute and long-term psychological effects. The family victims of intimate femicide go through an array of emotions and emotional responses at the time of the death notification and learning about the death of their loved ones and throughout the investigation process. Police detectives use both informal and formal coping mechanisms and make use of internal and external psychological services. Nonetheless, there is considerable reluctance towards seeking and making use of psychological services. Thus, the study recommends that there is a need to give attention to the wellbeing of detectives working with families of victims of femicide.