Coronavirus side effect: 911 calls for domestic abuse up

Unexpected coronavirus side effects, 911 calls about domestic violence rise as stay at home orders lengthen

A side effect of stay at home orders is rearing its ugly head, 911 calls for domestic abuse are on the rise while calls to preventative domestic abuse centers, like Massachusetts’ hotline Safelink, are on the decline. Stephanie brown, CEO of Casa Myrna - which owns Safelink, says this is expected but there is a way you can help if you feel someone in your life is a victim of domestic abuse.

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Calls to Massachusett's domestic violence hotline, SafeLink, are down while 911 calls for domestic abuse are up in the state.

Stephanie Brown, CEO of Casa Myrna, which owns SafeLink, told Fox News this is an unfortunate but expected side effect of the coronavirus lockdown.

“Calls are down to SafeLink, particularly from survivors, which is what we expected because it's not safe to call if you're living with your abuser," Brown said. She said on average Safelink gets about 2,400 calls a month, and that's down 15 percent.

People call Casa Myrna when they are away from their abusers, like at work or after dropping their kids off at school, she said. But since the shutdown, all that time away from their abusers has disappeared.

“So they're trapped with their abuser because of the isolation. And so we know that the abuse is going to escalate because the abuser is also feeling all of this pressure, whether it's loss of income, it's being stuck at home,” Brown said.

Because of the coronavirus, the abuser’s control of the outside world is diminishing.

“Domestic violence is all about power and control and so if an abuser doesn't feel control in their outside life, they're going to take it out on their victim,” she said.

Brown notes that in emergency situations, the right thing to do is call 911. But Casa Myrna and SafeLink’s services are there as a resource to help people plan how to get out of abusive relationships.

There is also a support network for those who have survived domestic abuse. Brown says that calls from survivors are getting longer.

“The social isolation of the pandemic is really retraumatizing survivors who are already experienced isolation that was caused by their abuser,” she said.

She said the important thing to remember is that until stay-at-home orders are lifted, survivors are trapped.

"The abuse is going to increase and we need to provide all the support that we can to folks,” she said.

Support doesn’t just have to come from SafeLink. Brown encourages people who know or think someone in their life is in an abusive relationship to keep in contact and reach out.

“Check in with folks," she said. "So, if you can't every day or once a week, have a check and just, 'How's it going? How you doing? Do you need anything?' And just staying in contact.”