Deputy Police Chief Jeff Hill: 'Last year we responded to 3500 calls and doubled our charges, laying 2141 charges'

By Pepper Parr

December 29^th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

Pam Damoff, the MP for Oakville North Burlington puts out a media release almost every week.  The most recent had two pieces that we wanted to pass on.  One on a National Action Plan to end Gender Based violence.  The other was on creating safe places for young people involved in sports.

Burlington City Council was debating these issues last June.  One of the participants in the discussion was Deputy Chief Jeff Hill who made a stunning comment when he took part in a virtual council meeting.

He explained that Councillor Angelo Bentivegna that he wasn’t a social media type he has at times advocated for prevention and made the point that when he does the number of people who follow him on social media drops off. “. It’s like people don’t want to speak about it. And it’s something that we have to bring to the forefront, the entire community has to bring it to the forefront. We have to watch out for our neighbours.

Deputy Chief Jeff Hill of the Halton Police Service

Deputy Chief Jeff Hill of the Halton Police Service spoke virtually saying: “I very much wanted to be a part of this discussion and humbly submit is of the utmost importance, and needed desperately to help combat and intimate partner violence.

“I’m going to be concise, and paint the picture from a policing perspective of the surveillance of intimate partner violence in the city of Burlington. Regionally speaking to the rise, in intimate partner violence in 2015 we responded to 2757 calls and laid 1145 charges.

“Last year we responded to 3500 calls and doubled our charges, laying 2141 charges.

“That’s effectively responding to 10 incidents of intimate partner violence a day. Specifically speaking to the city of Burlington, of those 3500 occurrences 1346 of them were in the city of Burlington.  Stemming from those occurrences we made 341 arrests; that’s basically an arrest a day.

“As of last week, we have already attended 544 incidents of IPV in Burlington.

“I’ve seen the statistics and I’m aware that this is largely an under reported crime.  We believe that only 30% is actually reported to us.

“Halton police has a dedicated 24 members, intimate partner violence unit, that partners with such entities as Women’s  Place and the mentoring  members of the Halton Violence Prevention Council. We’re doing everything we can in the areas of risk intervention, incident response prevention and social disorder, social development. Our Victim Support Unit reaches out to every victim of intimate partner violence that is reported to us. Even with all those resources being dedicated, the number of incidents that we respond to has remained steady since 2020, with a number of arrests rising year after year.

“Let me be clear, however, that the police alone are not the solution to this issue and we will not arrest our way out of this epidemic. If we don’t do something different, the  problem will continue to grow. Intimate partner violence cannot be a private issue. We cannot be silent about the violence that is occurring. The resolution before you is a start but we must do something to raise community awareness and education on the surveillance of the issue with the necessity for a holistic approach from the community as a whole; one entity cannot do this alone. As you heard from Dr. Kagan, every six days in Canada, a woman is murdered by her partner.

“I want to leave you with this final statistic, the last 40 years the Region alone has seen 22 women murdered at the hands of their partner, a woman murdered every other year in our region alone. This absolutely has to stop.”

Damoff, in speaking of the National Action Plan to end gender based violence, said:

More than 11 million people in Canada aged 15 and over have experienced intimate partner violence at least once and, gender-based violence disproportionately affects Indigenous women and girls; Black and racialized women; immigrant and refugee women; Two-Spirit and 2SLGBTQI+ people; people with disabilities; and women living in northern, rural, and remote communities.

Since 2021, the Government of Canada has committed $1.14 billion to advance the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, including $539.3 million over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to implement the National Action Plan. This funding will help frontline workers, prevent violence from happening in the first place, and provide culturally relevant support to survivors of gender-based violence.

Last Friday, Parliamentary Secretary Hepfner, on behalf of Women and Gender Equality Minister Marci Len, made the 13^th and last announcement of agreements to be signed under the National Action Plan. This historic milestone signifies that all 13 provinces and territories have signed their agreements to help advance ending gender-based violence in Canada.

Our government made a promise to help women and children fleeing violence – and we have delivered on that promise by signing agreements with every province and territory to get support to those who need it most. Gender-based violence has devastating impacts on individuals, families, communities, and society, and we will continue working to end it.

Oakville North Burlington MP Pam Damoff

Damoff had more news to pass along – we have all read about abuse in the sports world.  A program to build places that are safe is part of another federal government initiative.

Sport builds communities, stimulates economies and contributes to the overall well-being of Canadians and our country. It’s also a source of national pride and resilience. However, without sufficient safeguards and accountability, sport can also do harm. This is why, last week, Sport and Physical Activity Minister Qualtrough announced actions our government is taking to continue addressing maltreatment in sport and to ensure all participants enjoy a safe, inclusive, and welcoming experience.

This includes the creation of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission that will conduct an independent and forward-looking review of Canada’s sport system. Over the course of 18 months, it will engage and seek input from a broad array of stakeholders, including survivors and victims of maltreatment in sport, to bring to light lived experiences, support healing and engage broadly on how to improve the sport system in Canada. This process will be trauma-informed, survivor-centered and human rights-based. Further details regarding the composition of the Commission will be announced early in the New Year.

Government intervention at the federal, provincial and municipal levels is important.  What is really important is keeping a watchful eye and when you think there is a problem give the 24 member police unit that is dedicated to putting an end to behaviour that just isn’t acceptable.

Question now is – how many people stopped reading when they got to the words “Gender Based violence “ in the first paragraph?