A Prince George RCMP officer has been assigned full-time to clamping down on domestic violence in the city.
Whenever local police are called to a domestic violence complaint - from assaults to threats to breaches of restraining orders - Cpl. Carla Cook is providing an additional set of eyes to see if anything extra can be done.
It can be anything from getting better pictures of the injuries a victim has suffered to getting in touch with area social workers to get more information on the family situation to working with Crown counsel to get the case into court.
Cook, who was appointed to the position last month, will even see that once an alleged offender is in custody, he refrains from contacting the victim and that his calls are to his lawyer only.
Last year, Prince George RCMP responded to more than 900 cases related to domestic violence but getting a conviction can be easier said than done, often because the victim is reluctant to pursue the matter.
"Which is why a lot of our files that are successful have third party complainants, a witness that helps support what we suspect," Cook said.
With the help of another officer for the time being, Cook is also digging into the files to identify 10 to 20 high-risk cases for further focus.
The approach is similar to the Prince George RCMP's prolific offender strategy, which last year targeted 15 people, putting nine in jail while the remaining six were more often than not subject to judiciary conditions.
Although domestic violence is not as high profile as some other problems, Prince George RCMP Supt. Eric Stubbs said it's a very serious issue.
"There is a lot of risk in these types of calls and there is some particular high-risk people that are involved in relationships that are very dangerous and they need to get out of those relationships," Stubbs said.
