BY RICK PUSIAK
Many moviegoers are getting a riveting education these days about the physical and mental brutality of domestic violence.
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The Jennifer Lopez film Enough is a powerful depiction of the pain, anguish and isolation of an abused spouse.
Coincidentally at the same time Enough is being shown across North America, local police and social service providers are set to sign a Domestic Violence Protocol.
A signing ceremony is set for tomorrow morning at 10 am at the Lions Resource Centre on Paris Street.
The 40-page document took a year to prepare and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies in the city that respond to domestic violence.
Coordinator of the domestic violence unit at Sudbury Police, Sgt. Leslie McClosky, said our community has actually worked very well together for many years without any kind of formalized protocol.
However the provinceÂ?s solicitor general requested all chiefs of police to co-ordinate the development of a plan to reflect recommendations stemming from a coroners inquest into the 1998 domestic murder-suicide of Arlene May and Randy Isles in the Collingwood area.
Â?At the inquest it recognized that domestic violence is different than dealing with strangers in an assault,Â? said the sergeant.
Â?ThereÂ?s ongoing relationships and that kind of thing, children, so you canÂ?t deal with it in the same way (as a random assault).Â?
McClosky said police alone canÂ?t rectify a domestic violence case.
There has to be a coordinated response from the whole community and the protocol will help ensure everyone is on the same page.
Â?Things still happen, thereÂ?s still always gaps which we try to address (but the protocol will help) so that the people arenÂ?t going from one place to the next and getting different information,Â? said McClosky.
A number of local officers on uniform patrol and supervisors have been trained for some time now as domestic violence investigators.
When police are called to an incident there is an enhanced investigation, which means officers do more than just take a statement from a victim.
Â?There used to be the Â?he said, she saidÂ? kind of investigations,Â? said the sergeant.
Â?TheyÂ?re more thorough investigations now. You look at injuries, witnesses at the scene, phone documentationÂ?you use the medical evidence that might be obtained when they go to the hospital, we have a specific program at the hospital that deals with domestic violence.Â?
Some nurses are in fact trained in photography and forensic documentation.
Children are also interviewed. McClosky said they are also victims and sometimes feel overlooked.
As part of the protocol police automatically refer victims to services like the victim-witness assistance program, shelters like Genevra House or interpreters.
Police also have an in-house victims services person that victims can be linked to if theyÂ?re unable to reach the investigating officer.
A bail notification is included in the protocol appendix, which was an important aspect for some agencies in town.
Â?Because they have victims say Â?well, I didnÂ?t get told about this, I didnÂ?t get told about thatÂ?,Â? said the sergeant.
Â?It doesnÂ?t end here. Now each agency has to go back to their people and do some education in-house with itÂ?weÂ?re going to have a follow up meeting closer to December to see how that education has gone and to see whether there has been anything that weÂ?ve overlooked. Sometimes you donÂ?t know until you actually take (the protocol) out and start using it.Â? McClosky said domestic violence is a problem everywhere and local statistics have been increasing.
The sergeant doesnÂ?t know whether thatÂ?s because domestic violence is occurring more often or because of awareness and people being more comfortable with reporting an incident.
McClosky said the local protocol was limited to 40 pages to keep things straightforward.
She has seen some documents that are up to 100 pages but contain a great deal of extraneous material.
One of the signing partners is the Sudbury WomenÂ?s Centre.
McClosky said dialogue between that organization and the department has improved since last summer.
A less than happy situation developed after the Chief Alex McCauley sent a letter to the womenÂ?s organization expressing concern about comments centre official Barb Garon made in the media.
She was quoted as seeing a problem with the way some local officers respond to domestic violence cases.
The Greater Sudbury Police Services Board later decided there was no merit to a complaint against Chief Alex McCauley filed by the Sudbury WomenÂ?s Centre.
