The holidays is a time for celebrating family, and a sense of togetherness. But, police departments and women shelters across the nation anticipate a spike in domestic violence this time of year. Sophia Dominguez with Lubbock’s Women Protective Services said Thanksgiving was a busy day for them.
“We had a lot of calls, we had a lot of new clients coming in and I think we see more because we are close to the end of the year,” Dominguez said. “You’re stressed, its been a long year, economically you are probably disadvantaged, and you are kind of just exhausted.”
For the year of 2015, on average the Lubbock Police Department received 11 domestic violence calls a day, the most being 26 in one day. Assistant Chief, Jon Caspell said that domestic violence has a broad spectrum and can be physical, verbal, or psychological. During the stretch of Christmas to Thanksgiving in years past, the department saw a spike.
“It’s something that the community takes very seriously, and the Lubbock Police Department takes very seriously because those are some of our most volatile calls,” Caspell said. “Some of our most dangerous calls for officers to respond to are domestics.”
To learn more about domestic violence go to: www.wpslubbock.org