Northeast police posts intimate partner violence stats

In an effort to increase awareness across the region, the Ontario Provincial Police North East is publicizing intimate partner violence statistics across its 12 detachments from April.

In total, the detachments were involved 424 IPV investigations that led to 121 criminal charges.

“It is pretty typical for us,” said Const. Kyler Brouwer of the James Bay OPP.

In the last 12 months, Brouwer said the average number of IPV-related calls per month is 420, leading to 142 charges.

James Bay (88) and Sudbury (54) saw the highest call volume last month, followed by East Algoma (52) and Kirkland Lake (39). On the low end were South Porcupine (15) and Almaguin Highlands (18).

Brouwer said statistics don’t include responses from municipal police services in some of the larger centres.

“With traffic numbers, you might see some big OPP numbers in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, or North Bay,” he said.

“When it comes to calls for service of intimate partner violence, it is something that is taken care of by the municipal police force … James Bay just happens to be four relatively big communities that have no other police service that are involved.”

Brouwer said police are committed to following up on complaints.

“If we get a tip, whether anonymous from a neighbour, a friend, or from one of the involved parties themselves, it all results in a thorough investigation,” he said.

“And often it can be just that there may have been a verbal argument, a disagreement about something within the partnership. But all of those calls do get investigated.”

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

This is the first time that the North East Region has published monthly IPV stats per detachment. Brouwer plans to continue the effort going forward.

“I’m hoping that putting these numbers out there brings some awareness,” he said.

“But also make people aware of the resources that are available. Victim services is a constant. Also using something like 211 to get those resources when maybe someone's not quite ready to report something to police, it might help them figure out what their options are.”

A toll-free call can be placed to the Assaulted Women's Helpline at 1-866-863-0511 where personal information will remain anonymous and confidential.