The Northside seems to be bucking national trends when it comes to an increase in domestic disturbances related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Northeast Jackson and Madison have reported fewer disturbance calls between March 1 and early April, when compared to the same time last year.
The city of Ridgeland has logged more disturbance calls during that time, but the overall cases of domestic violence have slightly decreased.
Between March 1 and April 13, the Ridgeland Police Department reported 65 cases of domestic violence, compared to 67 for the same period last year. The department responded to 56 disturbing the peace calls, compared with 28 last year, said Lt. Tony Willridge.
Domestic violence occurs when actual physical violence is reported between individuals. In those cases, those causing the violence are taken to jail, Willridge explained.
Disturbance calls generally involve arguments between individuals in the same household that do not result in violence.
“We’ve seen, especially in those situations that are related to people staying at home, an uptick in calls for service as it relates to family domestics,” he said. “Some of them are disagreements, some are arguments between husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, boyfriend and girlfriend. It comes in all forms.”
Farther north, the Madison Police Department had 36 domestic disturbance calls and three domestic violence calls between March 1 and April 7.
By comparison, 45 domestic disturbance calls, of which five were in response to reports of domestic violence, were reported for the same time in 2019.
Even though numbers were slightly down overall, Capt. Kevin Newman said they might not paint a true picture of how COVID-19 has affected crime.
“That short time span is not a good gauge to determine overall increase/decrease,” he said in an email. “As like the throw of the dice, we can have two or three (instances) in one day.
“As time goes by and we have more data, we can provide a more accurate assessment on whether there was a significant increase (or) decrease.”
Meanwhile, in Jackson Precinct Four, the total number of domestic disturbance calls fell from 121 last year to 26 this year.
Chief James Davis pulled the numbers and was surprised by the decrease. ‘I figured it would go up too,” he said. “Maybe people feel the need to get closer because of the coronavirus.”
According to The Economist, reports of domestic violence increased an average of five percent in five large American cities: Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, and New Orleans.
All those cities went into lockdown between March 19 and 24, the April 22 article states.
Locally, shelter-in place orders have been in effect since April 3.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s stay-at-home order runs through April 30. Gov. Tate Reeves’ decree ran at least through April 27.
The orders banned non-essential travel, closed non-essential businesses, and required individuals to practice social distancing when in public.
Stressors related to those orders, such as being stuck at home and being out of work, are ideal conditions for domestic violence to increase, according to experts.
“In homes where abuse is already occurring, and there is a negative financial impact or added stress in the home, we typically see a higher frequency of incidents,” said Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive officer of the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Ray-Jones said that during the outbreak, between 1,800 and 2,000 calls come into the hotline each day, about the same before quarantine orders were put in place.
She said numbers have remained flat because victims are unable to call for help while their abusers are still at home.
“We suspect that we may not see a surge in individuals reaching out until shelter in place protocols are lifted and as people start returning to work or school and are apart from their abusive partners.”
Newman said the same may be a possibility locally as well. “Many victims are reluctant to report domestic violence when the abuser is still residing with them,” he said.
For those seeking help, call your local police department or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1 (800) 799-7233.
In other news, it’s unclear whether virus has had an impact on other crimes. As for house burglaries, Madison reported zero house burglaries since March 1, the same as last year. Jackson’s Precinct Four had 32 homes broken into, compared with 29 for the same period in 2019, while Ridgeland had three, compared with eight for the same time last year.
As for shoplifting, Madison has had 17 cases this year, compared to 14 in 2019. And despite more businesses being closed in March and April, Jackson saw shoplifting nearly double on the Northside, going from 18 last year to 41 this year. Numbers for Ridgeland were not immediately available.
