A woman wound up with a broken jaw and other injuries after calling for help fleeing domestic violence, according to a report from the New Brunswick police oversight agency. Some experts say the case is an example of inadequate police training and should be a wake-up call for public institutions that interact with victims of abuse. Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team, known as SIRT, reviewed the case this year as part of its mandate to investigate serious injuries that arise through interactions with police in New Brunswick.In a report at the end of October, SIRT director Erin Nauss described a situation that began with a call from a woman to the Horizon Health Network detox unit in Fredericton.”She had a lengthy conversation with the unit and explained she did not need to attend a detox program, but rather, she was looking to leave an abusive situation in her home and needed a place to stay,” Nauss wrote. The report doesn’t say why the woman called the detox unit for help, but says she made suicidal statements on the phone and reported taking some prescription medication. Horizon contacted the Fredericton Police Force to conduct a wellness check.The Horizon Health Network detox unit called the Fredericton police to check on the woman after she made suicidal statements on the phone, according to the SIRT report. (Savannah Awde/CBC)Body-worn camera footage reviewed by SIRT shows the woman was “very upset” when three police officers arrived at her home. The footage shows her repeatedly asking the officers to leave her apartment, saying “she did not want to deal with male officers as she did not feel safe,” Nauss wrote.The woman told SIRT investigators she believed her ex-husband had called the police.The officers requested the Mobile Crisis Unit visit, as the woman again made suicidal comments, but they called that off when she began to barricade herself in a bedroom. Police ultimately handcuffed and detained the woman under the Mental Health Act, the report said, and transported her to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital. Prof. Carmen Gill of the University of New Brunswick works with police agencies across Canada to refine their response to intimate partner violence. (CBC)”The concern here is that you have someone in distress, who’s calling somewhere to get supported … to have a bed,” Gill said. “And suddenly, with the police intervention, this person is no longer seen as a victim. This person is treated as a criminal.”‘Treated as a criminal’Becoming increasingly upset, the woman was taken to a seclusion room when they arrived at the Chalmers emergency department. She told investigators she worried about being “trapped for hours” in a bright room. As she resisted going into the seclusion room, still handcuffed and with an officer at her side, the woman fell forward to the floor. Medical records show she suffered a jaw fracture, a cut to her chin requiring stitches and several chipped teeth.While SIRT did not find the response to be criminal in nature, University of New Brunswick sociology professor Carmen Gill said it still raises concerns about how police are responding to victims of domestic violence.Gill, who works on intimate partner violence response with police across Canada, said she was surprised as she read the SIRT report. She said this can create mistrust, and potentially dissuade a person from calling the police in the future. Fredericton police spokesperson Sonya Gilks said the officers in this case “followed all applicable policies and procedures for the call-type,” where there were mental-health and domestic violence considerations.”Whenever a complaint is filed against the [force], it is thoroughly reviewed,” Gilks said by email. “We believe there is always room for improvement, even among our most experienced officers.Well-being checks and calls about intimate partner violence are “complex,” she said, “which is why our officers undergo regular training to ensure their skills and response techniques remain current. We remain committed to continuously improving our service delivery.”‘Honest conversation’ for improvementAs executive director of Sanctuary House, a transition home in Woodstock for women fleeing domestic violence, Sloane Rees said it’s not the first time she’s seen a case like this.”When a woman is in crisis and she ends up with a broken jaw, you know, chipped teeth, long-term impacts during a wellness check, something in the system, it’s just not working as safely as it should,” Rees said. “I don’t think that that’s, you know, an individual thing, I just think it’s not, it’s not working. And I think we have to have an honest conversation about that.”Gill said that based on the information in the SIRT report, there may have been opportunities to defuse the situation before it became “explosive.” She said police forces should look to the Canadian framework for trauma-informed response in policing, written by the Canadian Associations of Chiefs of Police.It says police should be aware of how trauma shows up in communities, and they should employ a “Do no more harm” approach when working with a victim. “When you’re reacting … to trauma, you’re going to act differently,” Gill said. “You’re going to or fight back or freeze. There’s different ways that people are going to react. So probably this was not necessarily on the radar when the police were intervening.”Of course, police officers are not psychologists, psychiatrists, but they have to be cognizant that trauma impacts victims’ and survivors’ behaviour.”Gill said the Mobile Crisis Unit could have potentially been used to de-escalate the situation, since responders work with the person in their preferred setting.Sloane Rees, the Sanctuary House executive director, says it’s not the first time she’s heard a story like the one detailed by SIRT. (Zoom)Rees also noted “trauma cues” are essential for police and other service providers to notice.”When survivors ask for a female officer or a low stimulation room or alternative approaches, understand that that’s a trauma cue,” Rees said.”Women fleeing violence are already terrified. So if we’re not trauma-informed, the risk of harm, even accidental really, increases dramatically.”Rees added it’s not clear from the report whether the police referred the woman to a transition house or other service after the incident. Gilks did not confirm whether that was done in this specific case but said in general that officers inform victims of resources as part of their response. Each file on intimate partner violence is also reviewed by a police co-ordinator, “a recognized subject matter expert, who further assesses risk and works closely with our social work team and community partners … to develop safety plans and connect victims with the assistance they need.”
Woman who called for help with domestic violence ended up with broken jaw, police report says
