Toronto police release data on intimate partner violence for the first time

The number of intimate partner violence cases in the city has risen from around 17,000 to 19,000 over the past decade, according to police data.

Toronto Police Service has released detailed data on reports of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the city, showing steady rates over the last 10 years, which experts say demonstrates a significant lack of progress in battling the issue.

Police released the data publicly for the first time last week.

The data showed that about 17,200 to 19,300 incidents happen each year.

In 2014, there were 18,584 reports of intimate partner violence, while in 2024, there were 18,122 reports in the city.

Releasing the data is an important first step to understanding the scope of the problem and collaborating with police, Harmy Mendoza, executive director of the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto, told CTV News Toronto on Thursday.

“There is definitely steady numbers, but that’s not what success looks like to me. Success looks like decreasing occurrences year-over-year,” Mendoza said, adding that while she would like to see the incident rates decrease, she would also like to see reporting rates increase.

“I would like to see increasing reporting rates because survivors trust and know they will be believed, supported and protected.”

Ian Williams, Toronto police’s director of information management, said the new data, which is broken down by neighbourhood, police division, month, and day, is a step toward collaboration with community organizations to tackle the problem and understand it.

“We need to work with our partners to codesign, codevelop and codeliver programs and services, and this is the type of data that will help us to do that,” Williams told CTV News Toronto on Friday.

“I think one of the things that it’s important to recognize when you’re looking at the data is that these aren’t just numbers. These represent people who are survivors, their families, and those who’ve been impacted.”

Insp. Roger Caracciolo, who works alongside Williams on Toronto police’s IPV working group, said the data will be released on an annual basis, and the hope is that the number of incidents decreases year-over-year.

“The data allows us to really look deep. It allows us to strategize, it allows us to look at our training and the type of training we want to do, because these calls are still happening,” he told CTV News Toronto on Friday.

“Our goal is to get those calls down a lot more. From a humanity standpoint, it’s hard to see that … that the community is still impacted by this. We can see the impact on the children, the impact on the families, the collateral damage that happens in the community itself.”

A handful of Toronto neighbourhoods are considered “hotspots” because they had the highest rates of IPV per 100,000 residents last year.

Last year, Weston was at the top of that list with 1,316 reports per 100,000 residents.

Weston was followed by four more west Toronto neighbourhoods, including Beechborough-Greenbrook (1,296), Weston-Pelham Park (1,188), New Toronto (1,115), and Black Creek (1,107).

Mendoza, meanwhile, said it’s vital for police and community organizations to work with these neighbourhoods to figure out what is causing such high rates of IPV.

“We need to go in there, and we need to start working with community members who could help us figure out what’s the best way to approach preventative activities,” she said.

She added that there are incidents that are not being reported because many people across the city do not trust the police.

“They need to make sure that the community know the police is there to hopefully provide safety, and that they could be trusted and protected right. There is a lot of work that they need to do to gain that trust from the community,” she said.

“This report definitely demonstrates activity. It’s a good thing that we can see the numbers, but I don’t think it demonstrates impact. Success means fewer IPV incidences, higher reporting due to trust and consistent referrals to life saving support.

Mendoza added that what’s needed now is “accountability, outcome measurement, and the courage to act on what is not working.”