The province’s child watchdog says while she is glad that Victoria police are adding new domestic violence investigators, she is concerned about police departments moving backwards on their commitment to integrated units.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s representative for children and youth, said it is positive that the police department is acknowledging that the 120 to 130 domestic abuse files it handles each month need better followup and attention, but added the department has not bumped up its commitment to the regional Domestic Violence Unit.
“I recognize Victoria [police] has been very good. They moved to create this unit. They know these are big issues,” Turpel-Lafond said Friday.
“But I’m very concerned about the appetite for collaboration in our region. It appears it’s going down.”
Turpel-Lafond also cited the collapse of the Regional Crime Unit — the integrated team that tracks prolific offenders across municipal borders.
“It does raise the more broad question of what's happening in our region,” she said.
Victoria police were criticized in February 2013 for withdrawing one of two officers seconded to the regional Domestic Violence Unit. The department still only has one officer in the unit.
The regional team was created after a coroner’s inquest into a 2007 murder-suicide in Oak Bay found that victim Sunny Park dealt with three police departments about domestic violence concerns but the lack of a co-ordinated response left her vulnerable to further violence. Peter Lee killed Park, their six-year-old son Christian, and Park’s parents before killing himself.
Turpel-Lafond said the provincial government should create an incentive for municipalities and police departments to work together.
“We need some domestic violence legislation that will force the hand of police agencies to work collaboratively,” she said.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said while integrated police units are the best way to provide high-level, specialized service, the problem is there is no civilian governance or guidelines around levels of funding, resources or how departments opt in or out.
“Those [issues] affect the operation of those units,” Fortin said. “Because each individual department is responsible to its community … local issues can trump regional approaches.”
Victoria’s deputy police chief Del Manak said the four domestic violence investigators will prevent abuse cases from escalating to a point where they need to be transferred to the regional team, which only handles the most high-risk cases.
“This actually prevents violence from escalating,” Manak said.
“If you intervene early, you do it right and you put the right measures in place and the right conditions, you actually prevent it from getting to a more serious stage where now it has to go to the Regional Domestic Violence Unit.”
Tracy Porteous, executive director of the Ending Violence Association of B.C., said she would like to see Victoria police return one officer to the regional team.
“It begs the question, why wouldn’t Victoria do both?” Porteous said.
“Was there consideration to give back [the officer] that the domestic violence unit lost?”
A Justice Ministry spokesman said in a statement: “The Domestic Violence Unit will continue to be supported and is a ministry priority.
“The Victoria Police Department will be required to continue its involvement in the unit, but they are certainly entitled to increase the number of dedicated resources for domestic violence in-house.”
