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Emergency operators seeing rise in domestic violence calls

2 years 5 months 2 days ago Monday, October 25 2021 Oct 25, 2021 October 25, 2021 7:20 PM October 25, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

The uptick in domestic violence-related incidents continued to surge this past week in East Baton Rouge Parish. It's a lot for those who take the calls.

"We need humanity to matter, you know what I'm talking about? It's just a lot of violence. It seems like people are not placing value on human life anymore. That's what it seems like to us and the operators that are here," said Jeremy Torres, a shift supervisor for Emergency Medical Services in Baton Rouge.

Operators like Torres work to keep victims safe from their abusers, often before anyone else can help.

"What we'll do, we'll always suggest that they never try to confront their attackers if it's possible. Try to put distance between yourself and the person that is 'doing whatever it is that they're doing to you.' Try to keep yourself safe, lock yourself in a room, put some kind of distance between you and what is going on," Torres said.

Even with the growing number of domestic violence-related cases, operators say about 50% of their calls are domestic-related. And operators notice the warning signs.

"They'll order a food item, or they'll say 'well, nothing's wrong, that was just a mistake' or 'that was just my baby that had the phone and was playing with the phone' when obviously we can tell that what we're being told doesn't match the situation at hand," Torres said.

For those who need help, Torres suggests being in public as much as possible where help could be close by in a worst-case scenario.

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