Status of Women committee  If anything, I would like to see that we continue on along the path we've started in relation to a national missing persons program. There are regional initiatives in the west, with Project KARE, and the OPP Project Resolve. I'm sure you've heard about different ones as you've travelled around, but with the national missing persons database and the national website that's going to be created, there could be a missing person's component in each province that feeds into this national database.

Status of Women committee  I believe it costs $1.2 million to investigate a homicide from start to finish. That was the last statistic I received. It's a lot less to do preventive work and get in front of these situations before they turn ugly. We spend a lot of money and allocate a lot of resources to investigating homicides, and not as much towards family violence.

Status of Women committee  Yes, I probably have a different outlook on this situation because I've been involved in this sort of work for many years, on the child protection side and now in domestic violence. I believe we have to address the issues of vulnerable persons in our community. Violence is still considered a viable option in peoples' lives, and there has to be some sort of paradigm shift.

Status of Women committee  We spend 80% to 90% of our time as police officers going into people's homes. We spend an inordinate amount of money on gangs and drugs.

Status of Women committee  Correct. We need to take some proactive steps. We need to look at risk and threat assessment. We need to look at safety planning and witness protection. We need to educate our members to be better police officers and understand the social complexities of some of these investigations we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

Status of Women committee  It's a matter of resources and allocating funds to provide us with the tools and the necessary strategies to help people who are involved with family violence issues--to get in front of it so it doesn't become such a big, inordinate problem for us. Again, it's a revolving door, a revolving cycle.

Status of Women committee  We work on a provincial level with our counterparts in a police advisory committee that addresses family violence issues on a regular basis. We're always looking at ways and means of enhancing the acts that we work under and bringing in more advocacy and collaboration from other agencies.

Status of Women committee  We're with the Edmonton Police Service. I'll just correct you on that piece. This is a federal program you're speaking about?

Status of Women committee  And it's the family...sorry?

Status of Women committee  It's a co-located facility, and it's called the Today Family Violence Help Centre. Again, we're a part of that. Social services is a part of that. A number of other community agencies come together. It's in the downtown core, and it takes walk-ins. It does referrals. There are phone numbers of people to contact if they don't want to deal with a policing agency per se from the beginning of when they want to tell their stories.

Status of Women committee  That's why I brought Nancy along: in case somebody asks a statistics question. Nancy can probably fill you in on where we sit with that. Just so you understand, because we are so focused on working with the community and in partnership, we see the success of collaboration. An example is working in communities such as CIAFV--Community Initiatives Against Family Violence--which includes 99 community victim-servicing linking agencies within the greater Edmonton area.

Status of Women committee  Actually, we do. One of my best friends is an inspector with the Edmonton Police Service. He's actually my neighbour. He is the driving force behind some of the initiatives that we're attempting in our organization as we speak. Demographically, most of my section is made up of females.

Status of Women committee  Yes, we recognize this as being an issue, and that's what keeps us going. We prepared an environmental scan for the Edmonton Police Service in 2010 and recognized some of the Canadian Centre for Justice statistics. It's quite appalling in terms of what is actually happening out there.

Status of Women committee  Certainly. In closing, I'd like to say that the Edmonton Police Service obviously takes domestic violence cases very seriously. We work with the community collectively to end the cycle of violence against women. Thank you.

Status of Women committee  Good morning, everybody. Thanks for having us attend this particular committee. Domestic violence is a major concern for the Edmonton Police Service and the community, affecting all aspects of society. Violence in the home is a leading cause of injury, and children who grow up witnessing this violence are often affected for life.