The Windsor Police Service is seeing a double-digit decrease in intimate partner violence cases.
During Thursday’s The service reports that cases of intimate partner violence, or IPV, are down 20 per cent year-to-date in 2026 compared to the same time in 2025.
Intimate partner violence has been a major driver of crimes against people in Windsor, with the number of incidents spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic across Windsor and Canada.
Windsor Police Acting Deputy Chief Ken Cribley says while IPV assaults are down there is a 15 per cent increase in arrests for those breaching their release conditions related to cases of IPV.
“These are people in our community that have been arrested for initially an IPV offence. They’ve been released by an officer in charge by the courts, with very specific conditions, and then what happens is they don’t abide by the conditions, and that’s resulting in new arrests and new charges,” he says.
Cribley says oftentimes the release condition breaches are due to work by the Bail Compliance Unit that is finding people that are not complying with their release order.
“Other times it’s as simple as a complainant calls police to say this person is not welcome here and they were just arrested, say yesterday. It would just be our patrol officers going, doing the report, and arresting the person,” he says.
The service has been working with Hiatus House and other community partners as part of an effort to address IPV and help officers connect a victim in real time with immediate access to crisis support, safety planning, and shelter options.
The Offender Management Unit (OMU), which includes the Bail Compliance Unit, a team supported through a $2.2 million provincial grant under Ontario’s Bail Compliance Strategy, has also been active in monitoring individuals placed under house arrest, curfew, or electronic monitoring to strengthen bail supervision and reduce reoffending.
Cribley says it can be a scary time for a victim of IPV, but the partnerships they’ve made that offer support and services are empowering victims to know they have rights, they’re supported, and they can call police.
“The numbers actually show that our assaults are going down, and based on these initiatives, the arrests for people, the offenders who are non-compliant, are going up. Certainly, it appears the message is getting out there. If somebody is being offended against, they’re making an issue of it, and they’re filing new charges,” he says.
Many of those being monitored by the OMU were originally charged with serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence.