By ALEAH HORDGES
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
The Westfield Police Department and other jurisdictions have seen an increase in domestic disturbance calls in the last few weeks. Capt. Charles Hollowell told News 8 it can be stressful for an officer to respond to a domestic violence situation.
Indianapolis police officer Breann Leath was responding to a recent domestic disturbance call when she was shot and killed.
Hollowell said there hasn’t been a huge number of calls, but mentioned the department often runs into more verbal disputes than physical.
“There are dangers that definitely come with domestic violence calls you don’t know what you’re getting into,” Hollowell said. “You go into someone’s residence, you don’t know if there’s weapons and things like that inside someone’s home.”
Kelly McBride, executive director of the Domestic Violence Network, said they are a partnering with various police agencies. She said the network and police departments has seen an increase in domestic violence since the stay-at-home order took effect across Indiana in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Two people who are or have been in a relationship; now that doesn’t mean that there isn’t family violence also escalating and happening right now, such as child abuse or between brothers or sisters,” McBride said.
“We’re getting much more calls from new people we’ve never heard from before who are reaching out for those crisis services and needing an immediate place to flee to be safe,” said McBride.
News 8 has reached out to police departments in Marion, Hamilton, Johnson and Hendricks counties to see how many domestic disturbance calls have been received between March 1 and April 10.
Noblesville Police say they received 13 calls compared to six around this time in 2019.
Other jurisdictions said there’s been an increase, but it hasn’t been a huge spike. as Fishers Police Department has gotten six and the Lawrence Police Department received nine calls so far.
Domestic violence advocates said they want people to stay safe if they get into a verbal, physical or emotional dispute.
“Stay out of the kitchen or a bathroom if a fight does escalate because that’s where a lot of weapons are kept; having a code word, having a place to leave or go to,” McBride said.
Click here to contact the National Domestic Violence hotline.