Domestic violence report calling for more prevention measures in Calgary

A new report from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy explores a trajectory of criminal behaviour involving men committing domestic-violence related crimes against women in the city over a 10-year-period.

In 2019, Calgary police reported 4,666 incidents of domestic violence where charges were laid and 13,858 domestic conflict encounters that met the threshold for police involvement but did not result in a criminal offence.

This data represents on average, about 12 calls per day and about 88 per cent of the perpetrators were men. According to Statistics Canada, men commit 99 per cent of sexual assaults and 83 per cent of violent incidents against women nationwide.

In a sample of 934 Calgary male perpetrators who were charged in 2019 with a domestic violence related offence, 71 per cent committed that crime against a female intimate partner.

The data goes on to show that 73 per cent had at least one police interaction in the 10 years prior to their charge.

Of this sample, 57 per cent were charged with common assault and 21 per cent involved a charge of assault with a weapon.

Researchers note that the prevalence of these two categories in particular speaks to the pervasiveness of very serious physical violence involving incidents of domestic abuse.

“This suggests that there are opportunities to connect with men earlier through both specialized and community support, especially when we're seeing an increase in police interactions,” said Lana Wells, the Brenda Strafford Chair in the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

Wells, who also co-authored the report says the goal of these findings is to allow police to examine male perpetration trajectories to help inform legislation, policies and programs to stop male violence against women before it starts.

“There's still that push to have a federal government and our provincial government prioritized this issue, so I think there is an opportunity for more funding and support,” she said.

“When the economy changes and certain things happen in the community, you start to see numbers go up as well, but again it goes to prevention. How do we teach people to have healthy relationships? How do we support parents to have good conversations with their kids?”

David Sannes, manager of men’s counselling and community initiatives with FearIsNotLove, adds that investing in domestic violence programs to support men will help create safety within their families and in their relationships.

“Men play an important role in promoting healthy, respectful, nonviolent relationships that will help shift and change the conversation. We believe that perpetrators can and do change their lives,” Sannes said.

“Our men’s counselling program is in such high demand that our organization has had to acquire funding to expand through the hiring of therapists because we're getting on average between 15 and 30 calls from non mandated men every month wanting clinical supports to address their anger and the behaviors that they're bringing into their family.”

The School of Public Police report released Thursday was authored by Lana Wells, Ken Fyie, Ron Kneebone, Stephanie Montesanti, Casey Boodt and Rebecca Davidson.

Risk-assessment protocol for domestic violence offenders

The Calgary Police Service's domestic conflict unit is one of the largest in Canada, given the city’s growing population.

Chief Mark Neufeld says it does not come as a surprise to see that more than 80 per cent of men are committing these crimes.

“We've also found that there's a connection between increasing criminal behavior and contact with the police, and we've been using that knowledge for a number of years to develop a risk assessment protocol for domestic violence offenders,” he said Thursday.

The risk-assessment protocol involves a number of CPS resources that allow police to intervene prior to an individual committing an act of violence, including an early intervention outreach program.

That program in particular allows police to make contact with people known to them and offer support through volunteer and community partners.

Neufeld was criticized Thursday for lack of action by police to recognize the dangers posed to a Calgary woman who was killed by her ex-husband outside a Calgary school in January.

The man was under a no-contact order and had previously been charged with active warrants against him.

“We applied the same tools and techniques that I'm talking about in terms of risk assessment,” Neufeld added.

“But again, the notion of focusing enough energy back to prevention and how we can intervene sooner, I think is the way to go and recognizing that this isn't just a policing problem or a court problem, this is on all of us. So I’ve been having discussions on what is happening in Calgary and forming the picture here.”

Calgary police have a domestic conflict response team and say their mandate of this team is to read that violence within domestic conflict situations that are escalating before violence takes place.

About three times as many calls are attended to where domestic violence encounters occur and no charges are laid. Police note that these are opportunities where people are reaching out to be able to connect them to services and supports.