The Windsor Police Service reports that 45% of all assaults so far in 2024 in Windsor are related to cases of intimate partner violence.
In an effort to address the issue, officers with the Special Victims Unit are now conducting virtual calls with victims and former victims to gain information that could lead to charges.
Deputy Chief Jason Crowley says they're also using their reports and data to look at recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.
The service is relying on provincial funding from the Bail Compliance and Warrant Apprehension Grant program to have officers take a closer look at repeat and violent offenders out on bail.
Crowley notes that in some cases, police are called to a domestic violence report with no violence, and no charges are laid at the time, which is why they're now conducting virtual calls afterward..
"We're able to speak to them and see potential patterns that we weren't aware of, and potential criminal charges from historical assaults, these things that we just never would have known," he says. "So this is just gaining a broad light for us to investigate further."
Crowley hopes it gives potential victims another way to speak out.
"This is giving them that opportunity, in a private, safe manner," he says. "We're not putting anyone at risk, we're doing it on their terms, when they're safe to do so. It's giving them that opportunity to tell their story a little bit better than they did in the past."
In January 2024, there were 361 cases of intimate partner related occurrences, and then another 367 in February 2024.
In 2023, municipalities across Windsor-Essex declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.