One of the keys to preventing intimate partner violence is being there to offer help and resources before situations escalate, experts say in the wake of the deaths of members of a Harrow, Ont., family that police have linked to intimate partner violence.Joyce Zuk, Family Services Windsor-Essex executive director who's shown in a 2023 file photo, says, 'We would like to see more men calling one another out and encouraging each other to get help.
Zuk said the program is rooted in reaching out to people and offering them support proactively, "because in these situations, we know that ... people can't wait." Windsor police recently arrested six people with outstanding warrants related to intimate partner violence.The Windsor police force also recently launched the IPV Early Intervention and Prevention Program, where police share contact information of domestic violence complainants, with their consent, with Family Services. Family service workers in turn reach out to complainants with resources, in hopes of preventing the situation from escalating.
Staff Sgt. Richard Sieberer with the Windsor Police Service's special victims unit said the program connecting people with the resources Family Services provides came in response to what he saw daily on the job. While the resources existed before the launch of this program, Sieberer said he hopes the proactive program makes it easier for people having issues in their relationships to get individualized support.
Sieberer said that Windsor, police attend about 3,800 calls each year related to IPV, making it one of the top three reasons people call police for service in the area.Zuk said that of about 50 referrals to that program, seven people have agreed to start counselling with family services.