Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020
Abstract Background When COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were instituted, there were concerns that isolation may lead to increases in domestic violence (DV). Reports of increased rates of DV during the stay-at-home period have been suggestive of this but inconsistent across different locations. We soug...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-12-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14901-3 |
| _version_ | 1828083091493617664 |
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| author | Tesleem Babalola Tianna Couch Morgan Donahoe Rachel Kidman Amy Hammock Rebecca Monastero Douglas Hanes Jaymie Meliker |
| author_facet | Tesleem Babalola Tianna Couch Morgan Donahoe Rachel Kidman Amy Hammock Rebecca Monastero Douglas Hanes Jaymie Meliker |
| author_sort | Tesleem Babalola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background When COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were instituted, there were concerns that isolation may lead to increases in domestic violence (DV). Reports of increased rates of DV during the stay-at-home period have been suggestive of this but inconsistent across different locations. We sought to complement the existing studies by characterizing changes in DV trends in US cities of Chicago, Los Angeles (LA), New York City (NYC), Philadelphia, and Phoenix using police call volume data from January 1st, 2018, through Dec 31st, 2020. Methods The stay-at-home orders were generally instituted for most US states in the second half of March 2020. We used the call volume for the pre-COVID-19 period (Jan. 2018 to Feb. 2020) to model a forecast against the stay-at-home order period (Mar. - May 2020) and the period after lifting the order (June – Dec. 2020) using the interrupted autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series model. Results During the stay-at-home order, increases in mean DV calls relative to pre-COVID-19 were observed in Chicago (47.8%), Phoenix (18.4%), NYC (3.5%), and LA (3.4%), but a decrease in Philadelphia (-4.9%). After lifting the stay-at-home order, changes in mean calls relative to pre-COVID-19 remained elevated in Chicago, slightly elevated in Phoenix, and returned to baseline in NYC and LA. Conclusion Results suggest that the stay-at-home orders may have contributed to an increase in DV calls in some cities (Phoenix, and to a smaller extent LA, NYC), but the increase seen in Chicago (and to some extent Phoenix) persisted beyond the stay-at-home order and therefore may not be attributable to the stay-at-home orders. Additional studies are needed to help explain why the association between stay-at-home orders and DV police call volume seems to only appear in some locations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:04:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-90ddc430da1e4daa9454f0d86b494856 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:04:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-90ddc430da1e4daa9454f0d86b4948562023-01-01T12:29:40ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582022-12-012211610.1186/s12889-022-14901-3Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020Tesleem Babalola0Tianna Couch1Morgan Donahoe2Rachel Kidman3Amy Hammock4Rebecca Monastero5Douglas Hanes6Jaymie Meliker7Program in Public Health, Stony Brook UniversityPomona CollegeWesthampton Beach Senior High SchoolProgram in Public Health, Stony Brook UniversityProgram in Public Health, Stony Brook UniversitySchool of Medicine, Stony Brook UniversityProgram in Public Health, Stony Brook UniversityProgram in Public Health, Stony Brook UniversityAbstract Background When COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were instituted, there were concerns that isolation may lead to increases in domestic violence (DV). Reports of increased rates of DV during the stay-at-home period have been suggestive of this but inconsistent across different locations. We sought to complement the existing studies by characterizing changes in DV trends in US cities of Chicago, Los Angeles (LA), New York City (NYC), Philadelphia, and Phoenix using police call volume data from January 1st, 2018, through Dec 31st, 2020. Methods The stay-at-home orders were generally instituted for most US states in the second half of March 2020. We used the call volume for the pre-COVID-19 period (Jan. 2018 to Feb. 2020) to model a forecast against the stay-at-home order period (Mar. - May 2020) and the period after lifting the order (June – Dec. 2020) using the interrupted autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series model. Results During the stay-at-home order, increases in mean DV calls relative to pre-COVID-19 were observed in Chicago (47.8%), Phoenix (18.4%), NYC (3.5%), and LA (3.4%), but a decrease in Philadelphia (-4.9%). After lifting the stay-at-home order, changes in mean calls relative to pre-COVID-19 remained elevated in Chicago, slightly elevated in Phoenix, and returned to baseline in NYC and LA. Conclusion Results suggest that the stay-at-home orders may have contributed to an increase in DV calls in some cities (Phoenix, and to a smaller extent LA, NYC), but the increase seen in Chicago (and to some extent Phoenix) persisted beyond the stay-at-home order and therefore may not be attributable to the stay-at-home orders. Additional studies are needed to help explain why the association between stay-at-home orders and DV police call volume seems to only appear in some locations.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14901-3Domestic violenceCOVID-19PandemicsCoronavirusIntimate Partner violenceDomestic abuse |
| spellingShingle | Tesleem Babalola Tianna Couch Morgan Donahoe Rachel Kidman Amy Hammock Rebecca Monastero Douglas Hanes Jaymie Meliker Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 BMC Public Health Domestic violence COVID-19 Pandemics Coronavirus Intimate Partner violence Domestic abuse |
| title | Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 |
| title_full | Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 |
| title_fullStr | Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 |
| title_short | Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 |
| title_sort | domestic violence calls for police service in five us cities during the covid 19 pandemic of 2020 |
| topic | Domestic violence COVID-19 Pandemics Coronavirus Intimate Partner violence Domestic abuse |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14901-3 |
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