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The Investigative
Analysis Unit provides crime and investigative analysis to all areas
of the Niagara Regional Police Service. The Unit is responsible for
the Ontario Major Case Management PowerCase software and ViCLAS. The
Investigative Analysis Unit derives its mandate from three areas:
the Provincial Adequacy Standards, the Ontario Police Services Act
and the Ontario Major Case Management Standards. The Unit is part of
the Detective Support Division and is staffed by one Detective
Sergeant, one Detective, five civilian analysts and one computer
programmer.
ViCLAS
ViCLAS, the Violent
Crime Linkage Analysis System, is a national database designed for
the tracking and identification of serial or predatory offenders
through behavioral analysis. ViCLAS was developed by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police and implemented in Ontario by the Ontario
Provincial Police. The Investigative Analysis Unit is responsible to
ensure all criteria offences are entered into the national database
for analysis. A ViCLAS submission must be completed for the
following investigations:
- All sexual assaults and attempts,
solved or unsolved (including false allegations of sexual
assault)
- All homicides and attempts solved
or unsolved.
- Non-parental abduction or
attempted non-parental abduction
- Missing persons where the
circumstances indicate a strong possibility of foul play and the
person remains missing.
- Unidentified body or found human
remains where the manner of death is known or suspected to be a
homicide.
- A type of investigation that is
added to the submission criteria of ViCLAS and is designated
by
- the Solicitor General and Minister
of Correctional Services.
Major Case
Management
Justice Archie
Campbell made twenty-seven recommendations following his review of
the investigations regarding Paul Bernardo, which resulted in the
development of the Ontario Major Case Management Standards and the
implementation of the Ontario Major Case Management PowerCase
software.
The PowerCase
software was implemented to provide investigators across the
province with a ‘a standard computerized case management system
for the recording, organization, management, analysis, and follow up
of tips and investigative leads.’ All investigative information is
entered into a central provincially maintained database to
facilitate information sharing amongst police services.
The Investigative
Analysis Unit is responsible for the utilization of the PowerCase
software in all defined major case investigations. In simple terms,
major case investigations can be defined as those investigations
that meet the definition of ViCLAS criteria offences.
While ViCLAS analyzes
the behavioral aspects of an investigation, PowerCase is utilized to
manage the case information of a major case investigation.
Additional
Programs
The Investigative
Analysis Unit operates two additional programs in partnership with a
number of community organizations to assist in the early
identification of serial/predatory offenders.
Anonymous
Third Party Report
The Investigative
Analysis Unit, in partnership with the Sexual Assault/Domestic
Violence Treatment Program – Niagara (SADV) and the Niagara Region
Sexual Assault Centre (CARSA), manages the Anonymous Third Party
Report program.
It has been estimated
that only 1 in 10 sexual assaults are reported to the police. The
Anonymous Third Party Report program gives victims of sexual assault
the opportunity to anonymously provide police with information
relating to a sexual assault and receive counseling and support
following a sexual assault.
The Anonymous Third
Party Report program has been instrumental in identifying a number
of serial/predatory offenders.
Bad
Date Line
The Investigative
Analysis Unit in partnership with the Niagara Region Sexual Assault
Centre (C.A.R.S.A.), StreetWorks and the Boys and Girls Club of
Niagara developed the Bad Date Line. It has long been recognized
that sex trade workers, street people and the homeless have been the
targets of serial/predatory offenders. The Bad Date Line offers
these victims the opportunity to anonymously report information to
police pertaining to a potential serial/predatory offender. In
addition, counseling and assistance can be made available to them
through the other partner agencies.
The Bad
Date Line Web site is available to view by clicking HERE.
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