The Windsor Police Service is expected to release the details of a new strategy aimed at reducing the number of incidents of intimate partner violence before the end of this month.
The service has been working for several months to develop a strategy and a specialized team made up of police officers and subject matter experts from organizations within the community.
Chief Jason Bellaire told Thursday's Windsor Police Services Board meeting that 35 percent of all crimes against people in Windsor involve cases of intimate partner violence, while 32 percent of bail compliance violations are IPV-related.
During the update on the work to form the new strategy, Bellaire told the board that they are hoping in the future they can say that IPV is no longer the single biggest violent crime committed in the city and that IPV is no longer the number-one bail compliance violation.
Windsor Police Superintendent of Investigations Paolo DiCarlo, who is helping form the strategy, says 41 percent of all assaults are also IPV-related.
"We want to obviously eradicate IPV. In order to do that, we have to put the resources in those positions and those places to make sure we can do that," he says.
DiCarlo says what they've done in the past is not working, and that's why the numbers are staying at that level.
"We are here for public safety. We're going to respond, but it's having a different look, a different approach to responding to IPV, to understand that policing the law is one aspect, one component. Having those other resources, the strategies in place to help with the other components, the other multipronged issues that we're facing—that's what we're looking at doing," he says.
DiCarlo says it's about giving a potential victim the resources to deal with their situation.
"It's the real-time services and not having to wait two or three days to make connections with victim services and those fantastic agencies out there helping out. It's providing it right immediately at the time of the incident," he says.
The hope is that by providing immediate support, the rate of repeat incidents will also decrease.
The IPV team that's being formed is expected to be similar to the existing Nurse Police Team and Crisis Response Team, which pairs front-line officers with subject-matter experts, such as emergency room nurses or social workers.