Domestic abuse agencies say demand for services has risen

Police expected rise in reports, but fewer are filed

At the start of New Mexico’s novel coronavirus-related shutdown, local law enforcement officials, experts and advocates warned of a possible rise in household abuse as families remained isolated in their homes and jobs disappeared.

Two months later, Santa Fe police say they have seen little change in the number of domestic violence reports. In fact, reports of abuse were higher in February, before the pandemic reached New Mexico, than in March or April, data show.

But those numbers might not tell the whole story.

Local agencies that serve victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence say they have seen a rise in demand for services since mid-March, when the governor issued her first public health order calling for nonessential businesses to close and residents to stay at home.

Esperanza Shelter saw an estimated 50 percent increase in requests for help obtaining protective orders, Executive Director Anji Estrellas said.

María José Rodríguez Cádiz, executive director of Solace Crisis Treatment Center, which serves victims of sexual violence, said the organization saw a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in protective order requests and a spike in calls to its hotline.

Esperanza regularly gets calls from people who need help but do not want to go to police or are convinced by their abusers not to call police,

Estrellas said.

Santa Fe police Deputy Chief Paul Joye agreed that the department’s statistics on the number of domestic violence cases reported don’t necessarily reflect the reality of what is happening in homes.

The agency received about 18 percent more domestic violence reports in April than in March, Joye said — 159 compared with 135.

But reports in February were 20 percent higher than those in April, at 191.

“These types of situations are very sensitive,” Joye said. “I just don’t want to lose that importance and that focus because ... these are people’s families.”

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber also has voiced concerns about violence in households during the pandemic.

“One of the unintended consequences of the stay-at-home order that is designed to keep us safe from COVID-19 was more incidents of domestic violence and families dealing with the high stress, close proximity as a cause of problems,” Webber said.

Abusers often use isolation as a tactic to gain more control over a victim, such as by keeping them away from family and friends.

A government-ordered period of isolation exacerbates the situation, Estrellas said.

Previously safe spaces where abuse did not occur, such as a victim’s workplace or a child’s school, may be closed, and the “pressure cooker of social isolation” can empower a person who uses violence to get their way, she said.

“It really disconnects you from your support system and, sadly, they use this as a tactic against their family or

their partners,” Estrellas said. “There’s even more control because they can say, you know, it’s the government, not them.”

A violent partner or spouse might also turn to sexual violence, Cádiz said.

She cited the rising numbers of calls to the crisis center’s hotline as an indication that violence could be increasing in Santa Fe homes as a result of the economic strains and health fears from the virus and the shutdown.

“It is the one thing survivors may do first before they even reach out to police,” Cádiz said. “They are going to

go to the crisis line.”

Cádiz and Estrellas want people experiencing abuse to know help is available, and to reach out for resources.

If someone needs to get out of their home and away from an abuser, Estrellas said, Esperanza staff will help them find a safe place to go, even if its own shelter is at capacity.

“They need to know there’s hope,” Estrellas said.

“You know that on a normal day they don’t need to live with constant violence, and it’s the same during a dangerous pandemic.”