Cases of domestic violence in Cumberland County have increased and, most distressingly for advocates, have grown more severe during the pandemic.
“There are more requests for help, and the intensity of calls has increased,” said Rebecca Hobbs, director of Through These Doors, a domestic violence resource center serving the county. “If you are trapped in a relationship with somebody who is choosing to use violence, during the pandemic you maybe can’t leave the home, you don’t have the respite of going to work.”
The Westbrook Police Department recently renewed its partnership with Through These Doors. The nonprofit will continue its training of Westbrook officers to help them identify the sometimes subtle signs of domestic violence along with the keying in on the potential for domestic violence cases to turn deadly.
As part of the partnership, Through These Doors representatives also sometimes accompany officers responding to domestic violence calls and follow up with victims.
“When the advocate gets in a cruiser and goes to the scene of the crime … they can talk about what they are seeing and the effects of (previous) strangulation,” Hobbs said. “It’s not just training in the classroom, it’s ongoing.”
Through These Doors fielded 25% more calls in 2021 than in 2020, for a total of 9,780. It facilitated 8,752 nighttime stays at shelters for domestic violence survivors, 50% more than in 2020.
A large portion of the calls to the The Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, which assists domestic violence survivors throughout the state, were about violent and life-threatening cases, according to Regina Rooney, the education and communications director.
Statewide, domestic violence resource centers helped 13,175 people, an 8% increase over 2020, according to the coalition. A total of 17,555 calls were made to domestic violence groups over the past year, with 79% of those reaching out for help citing the pandemic as harming their safety, the coalition said.
It’s the severity of the cases, rather than the number, that stands out, Rooney said. The number may even be on the low side, she said, because with schools being closed during the pandemic and with people stuck at home, violence may have gone unreported.
“The pandemic changed the nature of our work,” Hobbs said. “In some ways, we’ve developed new responses. Our support groups are now virtual and, you know, there is a loss being in a room with someone, but we’ve been able to connect with people we couldn’t if they couldn’t leave home to begin with.”
Westbrook Police were unable to provide specific 2020 data on domestic violence in the city before the American Journal’s deadline, but Hobbs said the county increase certainly is represented in the city.
The Westbrook Police Department’s partnership with Through These Doors costs about $57,000 and is federally funded through the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Through These Doors also plans to provide training in Westbrook schools.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
