NORTH EAST REGION - In April 2024, OPP North East Region investigated 424 occurrences related to intimate partner violence.
Community Safety and Media Relations Officer Kyler Brauer said 121 resulted in criminal charges.
Brauer broke down each of the 12 detachments as follows:
- Almaguin Highlands (Burk's Falls) - 18
- East Algoma (Elliot Lake, Thessalon, Blind River) - 52
- James Bay (Kapuskasing, Hearst, Cochrane, Moosonee) - 88
- Kirkland Lake - 39
- Manitoulin (Little Current, Gore Bay, Espanola) - 33
- Nipissing West (Sudbury, Noelville, Cache Bay) - 54
- North Bay (North Bay, Mattawa, Powassan) - 25
- South Porcupine (South Porcupine, Iroquois Falls) - 15
- Sault Ste Marie - 21
- Superior East (Wawa, Chapleau, Hornepayne, White River, Foleyet) - 25
- Temiskaming (New Liskeard, Englehart, Temagami) - 35
- West Parry Sound - 19
Brauer said the OPP investigated 385 intimate partner violence occurrences in April 2023, which resulted in 118 criminal charges.
In April 2023, the Superior East detachment area had 27 intimate partner violence occurrences.
Moreover, in 2023, the Superior East detachment attended 229 calls regarding intimate partner violence. Since the beginning of 2024, Superior East OPP has investigated 79 occurrences.
Brauer said intimate partner violence occurrences relate to multiple types of conflicts and occurrences do not necessarily result in a criminal charge.
“It can be anything from an argument to any type of criminal code offence, including assaults, mischiefs or breach of various court orders, release orders, undertakings or probation,” said Brauer.
Those occurrences which do not receive a criminal charge are because the investigating officer did not find enough evidence to charge an individual.
“I would say a pretty typical call is a verbal argument that sounds very heated. It could be called in by one of the involved parties or a concerned family member or friend or perhaps a neighbour. This can also include disputes between partners over property or other relationships or anything like that,” Breuer said.
However, the OPP involves victim services to respond to those more serious cases where criminal charges are laid.
“We do encourage people to call police if there is a situation of intimate partner violence. But there's also the Assaulted Women's helpline and a resource like 211 Ontario is a great way to find out what is actually available in each individual community,” explained Breuer.
