A dark Florida highway at night with distant emergency lights

A nine-part investigative series

Broken Badge

Q. What happens when those sworn to protect us from domestic abuse are the abusers?

A. Not nearly enough.

It’s a problem hiding in plain sight, more common than you think. And we can do so much more to prevent it.

Listen on Spotify Enter the Action Center

The investigation

Abby was killed by her boyfriend. The warning signs were years old.

Deputy Abby Bieber was killed by her boyfriend, Detective Dan Leyden. Both were members of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Tampa, Florida.

Who was Abby?

Broken Badge examines what happened — and the broader question the case raises: what happens when domestic violence occurs inside the institutions responsible for responding to it.

Across nine episodes, the series speaks with the family, survivors, advocates, researchers and law-enforcement professionals who have spent decades on this problem — and who already know what better practice looks like.

The story continues in Broken Badge.

Listen to the series

Public records and case files with redacted lines

Reporting built on records, documents and testimony

Officer-involved domestic violence

What is OIDV?

Officer-involved domestic violence, or OIDV, refers to domestic abuse involving a current or former law-enforcement officer.^[1],[2]

Domestic violence can occur in any family. But when one person in the relationship works in law enforcement, additional complications can arise — including access to firearms, knowledge of investigative procedures, professional relationships within the responding agency, and concerns about reporting misconduct involving a colleague.^[1],[4],[5] Law-enforcement personnel may also have authorized access to investigative tools and information systems that members of the general public do not, depending on their role and agency. Some agencies use tools such as automated license-plate-reader networks and other investigative databases; access to those systems is generally restricted to authorized personnel and governed by agency policy.

Broken Badge examines those challenges while also highlighting the law-enforcement professionals, advocates, researchers, survivors and families working to improve the response.

Research & prevention

Training strengthens the profession.

FSU’s National Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence was created to educate officers about OIDV, promote officer and family wellness, encourage early help-seeking and support healthier law-enforcement communities. This is not about treating officers as the problem. It is about giving officers and agencies better tools before a crisis occurs.

Florida State University researchers studied law-enforcement officers who completed FSU’s National Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence.^[6]

Following the training, officers reported greater likelihood of taking actions such as reporting suspected OIDV to supervisors, connecting victims with domestic-violence services, asking about prior abusive behavior, and intervening when they suspected OIDV.

In the FSU training study

47%: said they would be likely to arrest the perpetrator after training, compared with 26% before.
74.9%: said they would be likely to help a victim connect with a domestic-violence hotline or center, compared with 41.4% before.
84%: reported being more willing to intervene in suspected cases of officer-involved domestic violence after the training.

Better prevention helps protect officers, families and the communities they serve.

Self-reported responses from officers who took part in the study, before and after training — not statistics about all officers.

Read the FSU study Source: Florida State University College of Social Work

The campaign

From awareness to prevention

Broken Badge is intended to do more than tell Abby’s story. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of officer-involved domestic violence and help support the training, education and prevention work that can strengthen law-enforcement families and agencies.

One important model already exists: Florida State University’s National Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence.^[6] It was designed to:

educate officers about OIDV
support officer and family wellness
encourage officers to ask for help before violence occurs
give agencies practical prevention resources

A long-term goal of Action for Abby is to help expand awareness, access and support for proven OIDV prevention and training initiatives such as the FSU Toolkit.

For familiesWhat happens when the institution your family belongs to is also the institution responsible for responding?

Spouses, partners and loved ones of officers often know the agency personally. The Action Center gathers resources and questions that can help families understand their options.

For law enforcementWhat policies help departments respond fairly, consistently and safely when an allegation involves one of their own?

Clear reporting, independent review, firearm safeguards and supervisor training protect everyone involved — including the officers and agencies themselves.

For advocates & survivorsWhat additional barriers can arise when the alleged abuser has law-enforcement authority, professional relationships or access?

Understanding those barriers helps advocates plan for safety and helps agencies close the gaps that make reporting harder.

For researchers & policymakersWhat does existing research tell us, where are the gaps, and what systems can be improved?

Data on officer-involved domestic violence is limited. Better documentation and consistent policy are where meaningful improvement starts.

Sources

Broken Badge draws on existing research, training models and the work of experts who have studied OIDV for years. Listed sources are independent and do not endorse Broken Badge or Action for Abby.

[1] Domestic Violence by Police Officers: Model Policy. International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) National Law Enforcement Policy Center. Model policy. Report an issue
[2] Police Officer Domestic Violence: Concepts and Issues Paper. Office of Justice Programs / NIJ. Published April 1999. View abstract → Report an issue
[3] Police Officer Domestic Violence: Concepts and Issues Paper — Full Report (PDF). National Institute of Justice. Published April 1999. View full report (PDF) → Report an issue
[4] Domestic Violence by Police Officers: Concepts and Issues Paper. International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Published July 2003. Report an issue
[5] 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) — firearm prohibition after a misdemeanor domestic-violence conviction (Lautenberg Amendment, 1996). U.S. Code, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal statute, enacted 1996. Report an issue
[6] A Study of the National Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV): Examining Training Effects. Florida State University College of Social Work (Karen Oehme, J.D., Daniel Saunders, Ph.D., and Stephanie Grace Prost, MSW). Published October 13, 2016. Report an issue

Section published October 1, 2026 · Last reviewed October 1, 2026

Found a broken link or outdated citation? Report a source issue — it opens an email to our team for review.

Ask about OIDV

Have a question?

AI-generated answers drawn only from the sources listed above, with numbered citations. Not legal advice and not an emergency service — if you are in danger, call 911. Your questions are not saved.

Understanding OIDV

Warning signs

Policy solutions

Need help now?

If someone may be monitoring your device, consider using a safer phone or computer. More resources

Explore the OIDV Library Meet the people behind the research

A problem law enforcement can help solve

Many of the people working to improve the response to officer-involved domestic violence are current and former law-enforcement professionals.

Broken Badge is not about treating every officer as suspect. It is about giving departments, officers and families better tools to recognize warning signs, respond appropriately and protect the people who depend on them.

This is a law-enforcement family’s story, and law-enforcement families should feel welcome in the conversation.

There is evidence that focused training can improve how officers say they would respond to officer-involved domestic violence. In a study of FSU’s National Prevention Toolkit on OIDV, officers reported increased willingness to intervene, report suspected cases, connect victims with services, and take other protective actions after completing the training, according to Florida State University College of Social Work researchers.

Better policy, training, reporting and accountability can help agencies respond more effectively when domestic violence involves one of their own.

Explore the FSU research Explore the Action Center

Broken Badge Action Center

The story doesn't end with the podcast.

Broken Badge examines what happened.

The Action Center is about what happens next.

Enter the Action Center

About

Broken Badge is reported journalism about accountability, prevention and institutional responsibility — not entertainment built from someone's death.

About Broken Badge

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