In one week Upper Ottawa Valley OPP responded to 28 domestic disputes

Members of the Upper Ottawa Valley (UOV) Ontario Provincial Police were called to more than two dozen cases of domestic dispute over a week.

From Nov. 12 to 18, police responded to 28 domestic disputes, and laid multiple charges including:

• Failure to comply with undertaking
• Fail to comply with probation
• Assault – spousal
• Mischief – domestic
• Assault with a weapon -spousal
• Mischief over $5000
• Uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm – spousal
• Unauthorized possession of a firearm

Police also held several people in custody prior to bail hearings. Officers were called to areas in Pembroke, Whitewater Region, Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglan Township, Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Township, Madawaska Valley and Laurentian Valley.

Although the numbers are concerning, Provincial Constable Shawn Peever with UOV, said they need to be taken with context. In September the UOV detachment amalgamated with the Killaloe detachment, making the area the largest land mass to police in eastern Ontario.

“So our size has grown considerably since, which certainly contributes to numbers being higher for all types of incidents,” he told CityNews in an interview. “Those numbers may have been reported separately before. Right now, it’s essentially under one umbrella.”

The detachment is now providing policing services to 75,000 people who live in 18 different municipalities. The largely rural area can be a challenge for police when responding to these sorts of incidents.

“Because we serve such a large geographical area that is very rural and spread out, we can’t be everywhere at once,” Peever said. “Response times can be significant in some cases but we get there as fast as we can.”

He said that police treat intimate partner violence calls with “utmost seriousness.”

A press release from police dated Nov. 14 noted that the week of Nov. 1 to 7 saw 30 cases of domestic disputes. A similar statistic was shared by police from Sept. 23 to 27 with 29 cases investigated.

In March 2023 the County of Renfrew declared intimate partner violence and violence against women an epidemic. This was following an inquest on intimate partner violence in rural communities as well as the handling of high-risk offenders on probation. The inquest was prompted after three women in the county were murdered.

Basil Borutski was convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder in the deaths of 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk and 48-year-old Nathalie Warmerdam, and of second-degree murder in the death of Carol Culleton, 66.

All three women were killed by Borutski in an hours-long violent rampage in September 2015.

“It’s an issue here, and it’s an issue in the province, it’s an issue in our country,” Peever said.

Reports of intimate partner violence are on the rise across the province, the number of reported cases rising by 40 per cent between 2014 and 2022, according to StatsCan.

Peever said the connection UOV has with the communities can be seen in how many victims do come and report incidents. While police are investigating, they also connect the victim with resources including Bernadette McCann House, The Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County, Assault Response Team at any hospital in the county and Victim Services of Renfrew County.

“If people aren’t comfortable contacting police, there’s always the Crime Stopper option, where they remain anonymous and provide information on someone that could be an abusive relationship,” Peever said.