Ottawa’s monument to women abused or murdered by their partners in Minto Park, off Elgin Street.
Only five out of a million couples end in spousal homicide – Ashley Boudreau was one of the unlucky few.
Police found the 24-year-old’s body in her Cambridge Street apartment on Jan. 16, apparently murdered by her boyfriend Andrew Ferguson, 33, who then took his own life. Just nine days earlier, police had responded to a domestic disturbance call at the same address.
Boudreau was the third woman in as many months to be killed or seriously injured by their partner.
Police are investigating whether Boudreau’s domestic disturbance call was dealt with correctly. But can police intervention stop domestic violence from escalating to serious injury or death? Many experts say no.
Dr. Don Dutton, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, says police involvement doesn’t put the brakes on violence at home. In fact, he says it can have the opposite effect.
“Summed across jurisdictions, police arrest increases the likelihood of recidivist assault and slightly increases the chances of spousal homicide.”
Dutton says domestic violence rarely fits the stereotype of a husband or boyfriend beating up a woman but is often two-way. And he says spousal assault isn’t just a criminal issue, it’s a mental health one as well.
Complex problems demand complex solutions, says Dutton, beyond simply locking up an abusive spouse. This means turning cases over to experts like social workers and marriage counsellors, who can decide what type of violence is going on and how urgently help is needed.
“I think the way we should be going is to have police where there’s any risk, not always make an arrest but a referral, to deal with underlying issues,” Dutton says.
However, approaches like this one are easier said than done. In cases of domestic assault, police in Ontario have no choice but to lay charges.
Although he says police involvement often exacerbates violence at home, Dutton admits some cases do demand immediate intervention by police, especially when there are indicators that violence could escalate.
These triggers include prior violence, depression, substance abuse or weapons in the house.
“If you’ve got those four, you’ve got a hugely volatile situation with all kinds of risk factors,” Dutton says.
“And you’d want to do something in a situation like that immediately.”
But Toronto criminal lawyer Alex Ejsmont says these warning signs are difficult to catch.
“The people that end up killing the spouses are not the ones charged with assault,” he says. “This shit happens, usually, before any of these people hit the radar. Usually, if it’s a very serious situation, then the first situation is a serious situation.”
Ejsmont questions whether police have the skills or training to properly assess and deal with domestic disputes.
“I don’t think the police are trained and I don’t think they should be, nor do they have the capacity to deal with these situations,” Ejsmont says.
He says it’s difficult to predict whether violent incidents between couples will escalate into serious injury or death.
“The fact is, most people who kill each other know each other. And some of those people are going to be in domestic situations. What can you do?”
Sgt. Peter Jupp, case manager for the Ottawa Police Partner Assault Unit, would not comment on Ashley Boudreau’s murder.
But for patrol officers stepping into domestic disputes, Jupp says it’s not always clear who the aggressor is.
“How are we going to figure that out at a glance? It’s very difficult,” Jupp says.
“All we can do is work with the tools we have, which is charging somebody and them releasing them on conditions not to communicate, to keep the peace and be on good behaviour.”
However, women’s groups say preventing domestic assault from evolving into more serious crimes is the responsibility of communities, not police.
“The police can’t be everywhere, but as a neighbour, if I know something’s happening and I’m reporting it, then the possibility of intervention increases,” says Lula Adam, public education coordinator with Interval House, an Ottawa women’s shelter.
Adam says 15 women in Ontario were killed by their spouse in 2008, and 21 were killed the year before that. She says preventing spousal homicide needs to starts early, well before police are ever called.
“We expect police to do a lot of work, and they should. But unfortunately, when are police called? When something happens – you find a body,” Adam says. “Really it’s too late.”