The claim that domestic disturbances pose added risks to police officers is not supported by research results. However, this claim formed the basis of efforts to train police officers in crisis intervention. Such efforts were probably based on the State's need to strengthen the loyalty of the police during the social unrest of the 1960's. However, the family crisis intervention program did nothing to reduce deaths and injuries either to police officers or to the family members involved in the domestic disturbances. In recent years social attitudes toward wife abuse have changed. The women's movement has led to the view that wife abuse is criminal violence for which the assailant is responsible. As a result, the response has shifted from family crisis intervention to arresting wife abusers. The factors involved in the establishment of the crisis intervention approach and the shift from crisis intervention to arrest shows both the policing of wife abuse and the relationship between social science and government policy. Tables, footnotes, and 43 references.