Cobourg Police launches new violence against women project

Nancy Johnson, executive director of Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre, and Chief Kai Liu of the Cobourg Police speak to the press about the newly announced Violence Against Women Response Enhancement Project on Monday, April 3, 2017. Photo by Kayla Haggett, QNet News.

By Kayla Haggett

BELLEVILLE – Cobourg Police unveiled a new pilot project this week that it hopes will improve the way it deals with sexual assault and domestic violence cases. 

Working in collaboration with the Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre, the Violence Against Women Response Enhancement Project is modelled after existing programs in the US.

It sees external advocates assist police in reviewing sexual assault cases and increasing victim advocacy. Cobourg’s program aims to help take a more sensitive, victim-centred approach when dealing with sexual assault and domestic violence against women.

Nancy Johnson, executive director of Cornerstone, said that bringing in their expertise will help reduce harm and victimization.

“We are always open to collaborations at Cornerstones such as this,” said Johnson. “This one promotes community safety while working towards our vision for a community committed to healthy, respectful relationships free from family violence.”

Jane Lang, manager of community engagement at Cornerstone, will work with the Cobourg Police to review all reports that get filed dealing with these issues. Though she’ll still be at Cornerstone full time, Chief Kai Liu said that she will come into the station once a week and will be treated as an employee of the Cobourg Police. That will allow for Lang to view police reports, and make this program unlike any other pre-existing ones.

“By putting the two experts together, our criminal investigator along with a victim crisis worker, we’re able to better support the victims that we come in contact with,” said Liu.

Cobourg is one of five police services in the province to be open to a project like this. Johnson said it’s based on what’s called the Philadelphia model, which she called the gold standard for these types of programs.

She said it’s different than those programs, however, in that the reviews will be ongoing rather than happening annually and that this difference will help them better care for victims.

“This will allow us to better lend our support in taking a trauma-informed approach while creating a bridge to services for these victims,” said Johnson.

It will also allow systemic challenges, such as gender bias when dealing with sexual assault cases, to be identified and handled in a timely manner to create correct measures.

Cornerstone has had a longtime positive relationship with the police, said Johnson, and this program is another step in building that relationship.

“Our intention is to not poke fingers at the police and find fault here,” she said.

The program has been in the works since last October, and Liu said that it’s a response to the police board’s business plan that asked the chief to look at ways to enhance victim support and victim services.  In October, $25, 000 was set aside for this program, and he said that this funding will cover the first year of this pilot program.

At the end of the year the success will be reviewed to see if it will continue.

Liu said that on average there are 25 sexual assault cases in Cobourg each year, though the number of domestic violence calls is much higher. He also mentioned that though this project was established before the Globe and Mail’s Unfounded series, they are pleased with the fact that Cobourg is below the provincial average for the rate of sexual assault cases marked as unfounded. According to the Globe, Cobourg’s five-year rate was 23 per cent, or 21 out of 93.

“To have one victim is one victim too many,” said Liu. “It’s our hope that working in collaboration with Cornerstone, that we can better support our victims, and as well to encourage more victims to come forward that are not currently reporting either sexual assaults and/or intimate domestic violence.”

This program will allow victims to be supported by Cornerstone while going through the legal process, said Liu, and that if charges aren’t laid they can still receive the support they need.

“It’s that support of the victim through each of the steps that can be very daunting for a victim to go through alone,” said Liu.