If you have suffered family violence, call the police; nothing will happen until you do. If there is evidence of abuse, the police can arrest the abuser person who has hurt you and may take him or her into <span class="noglossary">custody</span>. To find out more about what the police can do, you may wish to read [http://www.lss.bc.ca/publications/pub.php?pub=379 Getting Help from the Police or RCMP] and

If the abuser person who has hurt you is taken into <span class="noglossary">custody</span>, he or she will stay there until a judge is able to speak to him or her. Most of the time, he or she will be released from <span class="noglossary">custody</span> until the trial date following the <span class="noglossary">brief</span> hearing, and the <span class="noglossary">release</span> will be on specific terms and conditions set out in a document called a ''Recognizance'' or an ''Undertaking''.

It's important that you call the police right away, or at least fairly soon after the violence. The police will sometimes refuse to take <span class="noglossary">action</span> against an abuser the person who has hurt you on the ground that the complaint was made out of malice or a desire for revenge because of the breakdown of the relationship.

You should tell the police — and perhaps crown counsel — about all of your concerns with the abuserperson who has hurt you, whether they're about yourself or your children. You should also tell the police about past incidents of family violence, and whether the abuser has ever been arrested for similar problems in the past. If the person who has hurt you is taken into <span class="noglossary">custody</span>, you will want your concerns addressed in the recognizance on which your partner will be released.

If the abuser is taken into <span class="noglossary">custody</span>, you will want your concerns addressed in the recognizance on which your partner will be released.  Among other things, the court can require that the abuserperson who has hurt you:

Finally, ask that the police and crown counsel keep you up to speed on the progress of the criminal case; you should also ask for a copy of your statement and the recognizance the abuser person who has hurt you is released on.

If the abuser person who has hurt you doesn't follow the terms of his or her recognizance, call the police. They won't be aware that there's a further problem unless you let them know.

You must speak to crown counsel if you want to get back together with your spousethe person who has hurt you, or if you want to <span class="noglossary">contact</span> him or her, or stop the criminal process. You cannot change the terms of your spouse's recognizance or drop the charges yourself. Only crown counsel can do that. If you <span class="noglossary">contact</span> your partner, you could be making matters worse since you'll be inviting him or her to break the terms of the recognizance, which might result in further criminal charges against your spouse.