'Safer Pathways’ rapid outreach targets domestic violence in Calgary

Diffusing domestic situations before they become violent. That's the goal of a new program called Safer Pathways. Calgary police are now working with YWCA Calgary and Fear Is Not Love on the initiative. We respond to 25,000 domestic events a year. The breakdown of that is approximately 5,000 or 20% of those occurrences involve violence and criminality. The new Safer Pathways program is targeting the other 80%. So these could be things like arguments, child custody disputes, those kind of occurrences where criminality hasn't been reached, but we've still got concerns around the behaviors and the wellness of relationships or family units at that time. In working with police, staff from YWCA Calgary and Fear Is Not Love are embedded directly with officers in the Domestic Conflict Unit at Police Headquarters. The YWCA is helping victims, Fear Is Not Love is working with aggressors. Kim Ruse is CEO. If we want to prevent violence, we can't focus only on the people who have been hurt. We also have to find ways to engage the people who are causing harm. Our research does tell us, though, that typically people who use violence are looking for help for about two years before they ever reach out for formal support. Safer Pathways is already up and running, but all involved say more funding is necessary to eventually support every domestic call that comes in. Ted Henley, CBC News, Calgary.