Lawmakers Should Not be Fooled by Bogus Claims of a Domestic Violence ‘Surge’

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

Lawmakers Should Not be Fooled by Bogus Claims of a Domestic Violence ‘Surge’

WASHINGTON / May 15, 2020 – The Coalition to End Domestic Violence is warning lawmakers of continued false claims of a “surge” and “spike” of domestic violence cases as a result of coronavirus stay-at-home policies. Such claims have been refuted by 30 police reports from 17 states around the country, which are listed below.

Calls requesting police assistance (“calls for service”) are the most reliable indicator of domestic violence trends, for three reasons:

Domestic violence victims or witnesses are able to make a 911 call and be connected to law enforcement officials within seconds.
The volume of calls is tracked by a neutral government agency, not an advocacy organization.
Many calls to domestic violence hotlines and shelters are requests for information about immigration, housing, or childcare (1).

Over the past six weeks, CEDV staff has compiled dozens of media accounts and contacted police departments requesting information on domestic violence calls for service. The reports were then categorized as reflecting a decrease (more than a 10% decrease over baseline), a steady number (less than a 10% change over baseline), or an increase (more than a 10% increase over baseline) in domestic violence calls.

Domestic violence decreases were revealed by 11 police departments and 16 reports documented steady numbers. Only 3 reports suggested an increase in partner abuse-related police reports: Boise, ID, Hibbing, MN, and Houston, TX, which reported increases in the range of 10-15%. These changes cannot be accurately described as a horrifying “spike” or a deadly “surge.”

Columnist Wendy McElroy concluded, “A head-long rush toward DV legislation that is based on fear of COVID-19 and on gender bias is far from harmless. It continues the problem by distorting the reality of DV and fixing prejudice against men into the law.” (20)

The recently introduced coronavirus relief bill, the HEROES Act, H.R. 6800, proposes to increase spending for a broad range of domestic violence programs in the amount of $170 million. (21) Such programs would have little or no relationship to thwarting the coronavirus pandemic.

SUMMARY OF POLICE REPORTS

DECREASE – Eleven reports

Arizona (Chandler): “Based on police reports in…Chandler, Arizona—domestic violence appears to be dropping” by 18%. (2)
California (Los Angeles): “Calls related to domestic violence in Los Angeles declined 18% from March 19 through April 15 compared with the same period in 2019, according to LAPD data provided to ABC News.” (3)
California (San Francisco): “Cases also declined in San Francisco.” (3)
Colorado (Denver): “In March, Denver Police reports show a decrease in calls for domestic violence compared to last year during the same month” (4)
Illinois (Chicago): Police reports of “Domestic violence [are] down 23%.” (2)
New Hampshire: “Reports of domestic violence also have dropped in recent weeks, [Governor] Sununu said.” (5)
New York (New York City): “The New York City Police Department said that reports of domestic violence have ‘progressively declined’ since the onset of the pandemic. The crimes fell nearly 15% last month compared to March 2019.” And Melinda Katz, district attorney in Queens, reports “domestic violence arrests have fallen nearly 40%.” (6)
Ohio (Delaware): “Police Capt. Adam Moore said 41 domestic-violence reports were received from March 24 to April 11, down from 54 during the same period last year.” (7)
Ohio (Marion): “Domestic-violence reports also are down in Marion, Roller said.” (7)
Pennsylvania (New Beaver County): “the Pennsylvania State Police have actually responded to fewer assault calls from Beaver County from Jan 1 to April 16 this year than in 2019, according to Trooper James Long. He said state police received 40 calls reporting some kind of assault during that period this year, 10 fewer than the year prior.” (8)
Rhode Island (Middletown): “From March 18 through April 15, Middletown police Capt. Jason Ryan counted eight domestic violence incidents handled by his department, which yielded two arrests. In that same time span last year, there were 13 incidents, which yielded five arrests, indicative of a year-over-year decrease.” (9)

STEADY – Nineteen reports

California (Anaheim): Has “reported little change” in domestic violence calls. (3)
California (Burbank): Has “reported little change” in domestic violence calls. (3)
California (San Diego): Has “reported little change” in domestic violence calls. (3)
California (Santa Rosa): Has “reported little change” in domestic violence calls. (3)
Colorado (Denver): “Domestic violence-related calls for service to our 911 Communications Center for the past two weeks (March 11-24) were lower than the preceding two-week period, and lower than the same two-week period in 2019.” (10)
Florida (Fort Lauderdale): During the last two weeks of March, 2019, the police department received 61 DV-related calls. During the same time period in 2020, the department had 58 DV calls, a small decrease. (10)
Florida (Palm Beach): According to Staci Mussmacher, Records Specialist, “The Palm Beach Police Department had no reports for Domestic Violence in March 2020.”
Iowa (Cedar Rapids): “Public Information officer for the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Greg Buelow, tells Iowa’s News Now, there’s been no statistically significant increase in calls for domestic violence since the Governor’s Public Health Emergency Proclamation.” (11)
Iowa (Des Moines): “Sgt. Paul Parizek, spokesperson for the Des Moines Police Department, provided Watchdog a mix of the domestic calls that police have responded to in recent days. He called them “garden-variety,” in that none were related specifically to coronavirus.” (12)
Kentucky (Louisville): “Louisville Police Department said that although statistics say domestic violence is on the rise, they haven’t seen an increase in those calls.” (13)
Maryland (Frederick): “There’s has been no dramatic increase in domestic violence calls in the city of Frederick during the COVID-19 pandemic.” (14)
Minnesota (St. Louis County): In “St. Louis County, 911 calls for domestic violence haven’t increased as some predicted, nor have charges.” (15)
New York (Albany): No change reported in the number of police calls. (10)
Ohio (Columbus): Sergeant Ketcham, Domestic Violence Felony Unit, reported, “A basic search of ‘reporting’ as of two weeks ago showed the average staying the same.”
Pennsylvania (Montgomery County): “However, a check on the same data sets from 2019 showed that as spring arrives, domestic violence calls and incidents typically rise. When adjusted for that typical spring increase, the analysis of the data found that domestic violence incidents due to the COVID-19 pandemic increased by 8 to 9 percent.” (16)
Tennessee (Nashville): From March 1-14, the Police Department received 842 DV-related reports. During the last two weeks of March, the number dipped slightly to 804 reports. (10)
Washington (Auburn): Joe Ryan, Crime Analyst reported the average number of domestic violence calls in March in recent years: 2017: 177 calls; 2018: 201 calls; 2019: 173 calls; 2020: 184 calls.
Washington (Tacoma): According to Wendy Haddow, “Comparing March 2nd thru March 29th, 2020 with the previous 28 days (February 2020), domestic violence offenses are down 3.3%.”
Wisconsin (Madison): “Since Gov. Tony Evers’ implemented Wisconsin’s ‘Safer-at-Home’ order on March 25, Madison Police Department has had an average of 8.75 domestic violence calls a day — a slight 4 percent increase from before the order was in place.” (17)

INCREASE – Three reports

Idaho (Boise): “Local police saw a mild increase in domestic reports last week, compared to the same time last year, but it’s too early to tell if it is a real trend. From March 7 through March 14, Boise Police responded to 63 reports of domestic battery and domestic disputes. In the same week of 2019, Boise Police responded to 55 reports of domestic battery and domestic disputes.” (18)
Minnesota (Hibbing): “There has been a minor uptick,” he said, adding that local dispatchers fielded 13 domestic-related calls in the past two weeks, compared to 11 received during that time frame last year. Schwerzler added.” (19)
Texas (Houston): The department reported during the last two weeks of March a 10% increase in DV-related calls, what the department described as a “slight increase.” (10)

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