911 Calls related to Domestic Violence Increase During Pandemic
This blog post is part of a series that explores data on domestic violence during COVID-19. We hope to contribute to the international conversation surrounding this issue and shed light on this subtler but equally pernicious “pandemic”.
Key points:
- While total emergency calls have dropped, and despite underreporting for domestic violence, volume of 911 calls related to domestic violence increased by 4.6% compared to the same period in 2019
- We see a 17% increase in prevalence of domestic abuse, calling for increased attention and resources to support survivors of domestic abuse during times of quarantine
- Differences in 911 call trends between cities may be related to availability of other resources, severity of the pandemic, and communities’ histories with police.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, confining much of the world’s population to their homes, it has given rise to what many have called a “second pandemic” — an increase in domestic violence. Several reports have tracked this increase in domestic violence using police reports or calls to domestic violence hotlines.
We contribute to this research by analyzing a novel dataset of 911 call data from 19 cities across the United States (for a list of cities, see Table A below). To account for differences in cataloguing across police stations, all calls whose description included the words “domestic,” “dv,” “family disturbance” and/or “family dispute” were coded as domestic violence-related. Then, a manual search was done on a city-by-city basis to identify additional calls that may be relevant, such as “boy/girlfriend trouble,” a code used in one city.
Consistent with previous findings, our data show that while total emergency calls have dropped by 11.1% (Graph A), calls related to domestic violence have increased 4.6% when comparing data from March 15 to April 29, 2020 to the same time period in 2019 (Graph B) [a]. We chose these dates because the first statewide stay-at-home orders were released the week of March 15, 2020. Furthermore, the prevalence of domestic violence — the proportion of calls related to domestic violence — jumped 17% during the pandemic period (from 1.99% to 2.34%).
The median change in domestic violence-related call volume in our dataset was an 8.4% increase. However, despite the fact that all of the locations we studied are relatively major urban cities, there are significant discrepancies between them. For example, in Detroit, domestic violence-related calls dropped by 14% despite only a 6.4% drop in emergency calls overall. Phoenix, on the other hand, saw a 21.5% increase in domestic violence-related calls even as total call volume fell by 6%. Table A (below) demonstrates this wide range in the trends in different cities. Further analysis must be done to better understand variations in reporting patterns between cities.
There are at least three reasons why cities may be experiencing different trends in domestic-violence related calls. First, we expect geographic characteristics such as proximity to a police station, availability of alternatives, and size of residences to affect domestic abuse reporting.
Second, severity of the outbreak, and resulting shelter in place orders, may contribute to the divergent trends. In Covid-19 hotspots, survivors may be unwilling to risk exposing themselves to the virus by going to a domestic violence shelter, and may therefore feel unable to reach out for help at all. In fact, some have suggested that abusers may be using the threat of the virus as a way to manipulate survivors.
Finally, trust in the police will play an important role. Cities with large communities that have poor relationships with police officers (many African American communities or undocumented communities) might see lower outreach for law enforcement support. We expect to see this, even if domestic abuse is on the rise.
It will be important to include these types of variables in future analyses to better explain these trends. Another important next step is to conduct further analysis on the effect of stay-at-home/non-essential business closure policies on domestic violence-related reports.
Lastly, it is important to note that domestic violence is a problem that is typically underreported, and trends in the number of 911 calls likely fail to capture the full extent of the problem. As the NYPD’s police commissioner noted in the New York Times, a decrease in call volume does not necessarily mean a decrease in domestic violence. Despite this, a marked increase in domestic violence related 911 calls is an undeniable call to action.
Footnotes:
[a]: Some cities had yet to upload data for April 30 at the time of this analysis, so we omitted that date.
Reporting Contributions By: Sylvie Stoloff, Natalie Levy, Elle Buellesbach, Naomi Mowat-Amiet, Tasha Gupta, Precious Esie
