RCMP in P.G. Put a Focus on Domestic Violence
Thursday, August 2, 2012 @ 3:58 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The RCMP Detachment for the City of Prince George now has one officer dedicated to the issue of dealing with domestic violence.
Corporal Carla Cook has been on the job for about a month now, sifting through the files, making contact with the various service agencies who may be able to work with police to assist the victims and have the perpetrators charged.
Prince George is not the only detachment to have a domestic violence unit. Cpl Cook says similar units are up and running in Vernon, Kamloops, Kelowna, Burnaby , Surrey and Richmond, “So this isn’t a brand new thing” says Cpl Cook “We’re seeing what’s going on in other units and we’re trying to develop what’s going to work best for us in our community.”
In addition to combing through all the files, Cpl. Cook says she is working to pull all the community partners together “We need to work together in order to be effective and timely”. While statistics indicate women are most often the victims of domestic violence, Cpl. Cook says men are victimized too “It’s all about protecting whoever the victim might be, man or woman.”
Cpl. Cook says members on General Duty will be responding to the calls.
Members at this detachment responded to more than 900 domestic violence calls last year. Although many of those calls saw officers going to the same address to deal with the same people over and over again, domestic violence is still a big problem in the community as the cases actually reported to police don’t reflect the true numbers because many victims never file a formal complaint.
Corporal Cook says many of the files fail to go to court because the victim doesn’t want to speak up “People see it as a private matter, it’s in their homes or they’re embarrassed so I think calls from the general public help to put these cases on the radar.”
The statistics show younger individuals are more likely to experience domestic violence as are those who are living in common law relationships than their married counterparts. A recent study by the Justice Institute of B.C. also indicates Aboriginal people are nearly twice as likely as non-Aboriginals to experience intimate partner violence, and persons with physical or mental health conditions are also at increased risk of becoming a victim of domestic violence.
A 2009 report by Sauve and Burns indicated that in 2008 nearly 17,300 women and children became residents of the shelters for abused women in B.C.
Corporal Cook says she hopes that through her work with community partners and the information gathered for general duty members, victims can get the assistance they need to break free from the violence “We know we can’t save the world, but we are going to do what we can do.”
Comments
That is really good news but what about the drug trade where crooks are shooting each other. How long will it be before an innocent bystander get hurt.
And may I be so bold as to mention arent drugs some of the cause of domestic violence. But then its not unusual in our society to try and find a cure but we dont seem to have the courage to look for the cause.
Cheers
You’re right retired, it’s the drug trade, alcohol consumption, and immature people in relationships with the “It’s my way or the highway” attitude and some extreme control issues.
So why do people turn to drugs and other mind altering substances such as alcohol? Why are some people mature and others immature? By whose standards?
When do people fight back … emotionally and physically? Who is the pusher and who is the pushee?
What are the stresses people are under which cause such abnormal conditions? Are the causes from inside the family unit or from oputside the family unit?
When it moves from the awarenes and helping phase to the enforcement phase, something has gone wrong socially and likely economically to overstress the relationship. In my mind it is not good to see the police as enforcer having to enter the system.
Also, keep in mind that not all violence is inflicted on others. Some is inflicted at various levels on oneself. The extreme of that is suicide. So, in viewing statistical indicators of increasing family stress and violence, including family homicide, I hope that suicides are not left out of the picture.
Domestic abuse is highest among rednecks doncha know?
A very large majority of domestic violence is due to alcohol, sure glad its legal. As for pot.. has it ever caused any alone ? sure glad its illegal.
P Val ….. that is a very much disputed opinion. The cause and effect relationship is extremely tenuous as poited out in this article.
http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/abuse/a/aa990331.htm
From that article some applicable statements.
“…. those who study the dynamics of domestic abuse say there is no real research to indicate that alcoholism and drug abuse causes domestic violence.
“… the majority of men classified as high-level drinkers do not abuse their partners.
“…. the majority (76 percent) of physically abusive incidents occur in the absence of alcohol use.”
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