A man convicted of assault following an intimate partner violence-related incident, in which a woman sustained serious physical injuries, was arrested one hour after his release from South West Detention Centre on Monday.
Windsor police say the man was released on probation with conditions that prohibited him from coming within 100 metres of any place the victim lived, worked, or attended school.
The police service's Special Victims Unit learned of his release in advance and had reason to believe he would attend the victim’s residence.
Rich Sieberer, SVU staff sergeant, said the victim was immediately moved to a safe location.
"At that point, we worked with our P.O.P Unit, which is our patrol section, they set up surveillance on the residence and the male went immediately right from the South West Detention Centre right to the home of our victim, and he was arrested without incident at that point," he said.
He said when offenders are released, the service always requests strict conditions, but it's up to the courts what conditions are imposed.
"Personally I'd like to see more GPS tracking and things like that for these victims. I think that's important," Sieberer said.
"I always ask myself why is the victim have to make these changes and look over their shoulder at the time when we have the technology to use GPS tracking where if they go into a certain area, we would be notified and we could go look for that person."
Sieberer said this isn't the first time they've dealt with reoffenders.
"We did last year about 450 breaches of probation. That's just in the IPV world, so it does happen, and it happens too much," he said.
Sieberer said IPV continues to be an epidemic.
"We dealt with 3,600 cases last year as an office," he said.
"All I can say is that we do our best to touch base with every victim, everybody that calls to make sure that they are safe. That's the most important thing and then from there, we look at charges and so on."
The 27-year-old man has been charged with breach of a probation order. His name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim.
Windsor police said it remains committed to supporting victims of IPV and listed a number of community resources available for anyone in need:
•The Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Treatment Centre - https://wrh.on.ca/SADVTC
•Hiatus House - https://hiatushouse.com
•Victim Services of Windsor & Essex County - https://vswec.ca
If you or someone you know is an affected person in need of support, please call Victim Services Windsor Essex County at 519-723-2711 or the Victim Assistance Unit at Windsor Police at 519-255-6700, ext. 7179, or the Hiatus House 24 hour emergency line at 519-252-7781.