After an 18-month pilot project showed strong results, the Montreal police service (SPVM) is expanding a protocol that focuses on strangulation in cases of domestic violence across the entire city.

The initiative was developed in close partnership with Quebec’s Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP). It aims to improve how police identify, document and investigate this serious form of violence and to strengthen how the justice system responds.

Related: • Strangulation in context of intimate partner violence: SPVM, DPCP launch pilot project • In domestic abuse, strangulation is a ‘hidden’ predictor of femicide, experts say

Strangulation seen as a major warning sign

In a press release, SPVM says that studies show that when a person attempts to strangle their intimate part

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