The Campbell River RCMP responded to 40 domestic dispute calls last month, a drop of eleven calls when compared to July of last year.
Cst. Maury Tyre says, for the most part, domestic file numbers have remained relatively steady in 2020 when compared to 2019 numbers.
“One month of a significant reduction in files is positive, but what we really need to see is a continuing and sustained downward trend to really be able to say whether domestic violence policies and police actions are helping us turn a corner, in regards to reducing domestic violence in the community.”
Tyre says, “unfortunately one of the issues associated with domestic and romantic relationships is the fact that most of them end.”
“Most people have other relationships before they find the ‘one’ and even if they do find the ‘one’, close to 50 per cent of those relationships fail. Many of those relationships just fizzle out with no ill feeling, but unfortunately, some just don’t end well.”
According to Tyre, one of the saddest things the RCMP deal with are custody based issues.
“When relationships end, police often end up getting involved when parties have custody disputes. Despite the commonality of such complaints many of these custody disputes are not actually part of regular police duties and police can effectively act as mediators only, without any authority.”
The reason is simple, Tyre says, as many do not go through the proper steps to dissolve their common law relationships or make legally binding custody agreements.
“When they do go through the steps, sometimes the custody agreements do not have conditions that are police enforceable.”
He recommends that anyone with children ending a relationship create a legally binding custody agreement, that’s easy to understand, and has enforceable conditions.
Tyre says you should “be prepared to be a little flexible with the other parent of your kids. There may be bad blood between exes, but it doesn’t need to spill over to the children.”
He says police often see parents using children as pawns post break up.
“It’s damaging to the children and because the kids mean so much to each parent, it can even stir up violence between the parents which doesn’t work for anybody,” Tyre adds.
“If there are issues, pick a mutually agreed upon public place to exchange custody of the children. Public locales where people know they are being watched do seem to reduce some conflicts.”
