Jul 16, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic is causing lots of stress for people and families. And that, coupled with more time at home, has driven up domestic violence rates.
Here in the North Country, one domestic violence hotline is getting more than triple the number of calls it usually gets.
Amber Brown-Rose is the program director of STOP Domestic Violence, which serves victims in Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties. They run the hotline people call when they need help.
Brown-Rose says she and her staff were expecting an uptick at the beginning of the pandemic in March, when stay-at-home orders started.
“Because sheltering in place and people being furloughed and laid off – that’s going to cause more stressors in an already very stressful home life for many of the clientele we serve.”
AMBER BROWN-ROSE: We knew that our clients were going to be, unfortunately, an abundance of them were going to be in danger. We were expecting that our phones would be ringing off the hook right off the bat and they weren’t. For the first month, I would say the phones were quiet silent. That was like that all across New York State.
AMY FEIEREISEL: So why was that?
BROWN-ROSE: It was unsafe for them to reach out for help. If you’re stuck at home with a person that is abusing you it’s not safe for you to call for help; it’s not safe for you to even email our program or text our program for help. That’s what we were seeing in the beginning. As things slowly started to lift we began seeing an uptick in our calls. In a given day, I would say anywhere from 30 to 40 calls a day.
FEIEREISEL: Thirty to 40 calls a day? Is that a lot compared to, say, this time last year?
BROWN-ROSE: Keeping track of it monthly, I can tell you a ballpark figure; anywhere from 100 to 200 calls a month.
That’s compared to the 600 to 800 calls a month they’re receiving right now. Brown-Rose says the calls started coming in like this in early May, and the bulk of those calls are coming Monday through Friday.
BROWN-ROSE: Now that we’re in Phase 4 here in our area, more people have returned back to work. So, victims, either their abusers have returned back to work and they’re able to contact us. or the victims themselves have returned back to work and they’re able to call us from work.
FEIEREISEL: So you’re seeing a really substantial increase.
BROWN-ROSE: Yeah, I would definitely say that there has been. All of our local police departments are stating that there has been a drastic increase in calls.
These are domestic incident calls made to local police, and Brown-Rose says that these calls are more indicative of real-time abuse. They’ve been high since March.
BROWN-ROSE: Since the beginning, they’ve been receiving those calls. We feel like there are still very many victims out there that haven’t reached out for help yet. For whatever reason, they might be afraid to do so because of the dangers that are present in their relationship. Their abuser might still be furloughed and they might not be able to leave the house because it’s not safe, or they might be fearful because of COVID. That’s a tactic that we’ve seen, unfortunately, used against some victims.
Brown-Rose says they’ve had to learn how to do a lot of things differently, and the switch to remote has been challenging for both clients and staff. One bright spot, and something she hopes to see continue, were court dates via video chat.
BROWN-ROSE: Victims were able to Skype with judges. That’s something that was incredibly convenient and far less stressful for the victim than showing up in person with all the people that would be in the courthouse. So, we definitely are thinking outside the box planning how we can improve, how we can make things easier. Just because things have been done one way for twenty-plus years doesn’t mean we have to do them that way.
Brown-Rose and others working to fight domestic violence are now looking ahead to the fall. They’re worried about a second spike of coronavirus cases in New York, and watching the whole heightened domestic violence cycle repeat itself.
Domestic violence resources
- New York State's domestic violence hotline, 1-800-942-6906, is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- There’s also the option to chat online with a professional: www.opdv.ny.gov.
- The governor’s office set up a confidential number that victims can text: 844-997-2121.
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), is also staffed 24/7 and available in more than 200 languages. All calls are free and confidential.
- Hotlines by county can be found in the New York State Domestic Violence Program Directory.
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July 16, 2020 at 07:09PM
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'We knew our clients were going to be in danger': Domestic abuse continues to surge in the North Country - North Country Public Radio
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