Windsor Police Partners With Community Stakeholders To Offer Real-Time Support For Intimate Partner Violence Victims
Windsor Police photo
Windsor Police, Windsor Regional Hospital, Hiatus House, and Family Services Windsor-Essex have launched a pilot project to provide immediate, real-time support to victims of intimate partner violence.
Traditionally, victims have not always felt comfortable speaking openly with police during a crisis. This initiative aims to create a connection to essential services by encouraging victims to take that important first step toward accepting help, supported by a subject matter expert.
Through this new partnership, Windsor Police will work with all three community partners to ensure victims are connected with a social worker on-site immediately following an incident.
Officers will respond to calls for service, ensuring the victim’s physical safety. Specially trained social workers will provide in-person trauma support, safety planning, and ongoing care to meet the psychological and emotional needs of these victims. This partnership seeks to provide victims with access to the resources and support necessary for recovery and continued safety.
Over the next three months, this pilot program will run from 3:00pm to 11:00pm, five days per week, with the goal to eventually offer these services daily. Victims will also have access to 24/7 virtual support services through Hiatus House. This expanded service model draws on other cross-sectoral collaborations, such as the Nurse Police Team and the Crisis Response Team, both of which have proven effective in similar contexts.
This initiative is being introduced as an expansion of the work of the IPV Early Intervention and Prevention Program, launched earlier this year by Windsor Police and FSWE to identify early warning signs of intimate partner violence and proactively intervene to prevent further harm.
As part of this program, officers identify individuals who have been subjected to non-physical abusive behaviour and connect them with community resources, reducing the risk of escalation.
This year through January to August 2024, Windsor Police has responded to a total of 2,573 IPV-related incidents – a 7.1% increase compared to the same period last year. Additionally, 37.7% of all crimes against people and 44.3% of all assaults reported this year are related to IPV. In 2023, two of the three homicides reported in Windsor had an IPV component linked to the investigation.
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. 4879.
