Police departments across the country are reporting a spike in domestic violence cases as stay-at-home orders put victims and their abusers in constant proximity.
Experts who study domestic violence say the increases, however, are almost certainly underreported because some victims cannot get away from their abusers to call police.
Departments in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle have said publicly they are seeing increases in domestic violence allegations.
Chicago reported a 14.6 percent increase in the number of calls during the first week of April compared to the same period last year, said Aileen Robinson, domestic violence operations coordinator for the Chicago Police Department. She said the department expects those numbers to rise even more in the coming weeks.
“We already know that abusers are using this as a tool to manipulate not only victims, but law enforcement,” Robinson said. She said abusers can “manipulate” victims by intentionally exposing them to the virus or threatening to throw them out if they test positive.
Boston had a decrease in simple assault and battery cases from January to February, and then an increase from February to March. In March, there was a 22 percent increase in domestic violence in comparison to March 2019.
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