The paper discusses the establishment of the first Family Violence Intervention Units in the 1960's, lawsuits against the police in the 1970's, specific studies of arrests in the 1980's, and how these events have shaped police policies with regard to domestic violence. The paper includes models of domestic violence prevention strategies currently implemented by police departments. Although most of the research on police response to domestic violence has focused on the use of arrest, arrest is only one of the possible police responses. Others include mediation, making referrals, separation, or simply doing nothing. The paper suggests that police response to domestic violence needs to be refocused, to extend beyond whether to arrest. Research should include referrals to social service agencies that may be useful to victims, offenders, and children living in abusive environments, other interventions available to police, and their relative effectiveness in protecting victims from present and future harm. References