Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are seeing an increase in domestic violence calls since the county’s stay-at-home order for the coronavirus pandemic went into effect on March 26.
In a press briefing Wednesday, CMPD reported it received 352 more service calls for domestic violence reasons compared to this time last year, an increase of about 20%. CMPD detective Jennifer Bumgarner specializes in domestic violence cases.
"We can’t say that it is related to the stay-at-home order, but we can’t say that it is not either," Bumgarner said. "We do want to reassure everyone that we are still handling our cases as we always have been."
She urged victims to call police to help de-escalate a situation before it gets violent. She says officers would still make house calls, but they may enforce social distancing guidelines of six feet -- for instance asking people to step outside of their homes when speaking with police.
The increase follows a similar uptick in domestic violence calls in March. CMPD recorded a 17% increase in calls last month compared to March 2019.
Shannon Rollinger, a survivor who also spoke at Wednesday’s briefing, encouraged those suffering from domestic violence to use resources like 911, as well as resources through the organization Safe Alliance and the National Domestic Violence Hot Line.
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