Naples Daily News: Domestic violence was up, even before pandemic and quarantine

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We continued to be plagued by domestic violence.

Even before the pandemic and associated quarantine, which experts fear may have produced a spike in incidents that is not yet fully documented, Collier County had seen in increase in abuse.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Collier County had 39 more domestic violence offenses in 2019 than 2018, including one murder, 41 forcible rapes and 228 aggravated assaults.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Linda Oberhaus, CEO of Collier County’s Shelter for Abused Women & Children, reminds us that domestic violence crosses all age, ethnic, economic, and geographic boundaries.

On Tuesday, Collier County commissioners issued a proclamation recognizing the October designation. “The crime of domestic violence violates an individual’s privacy, dignity, security and humanity due to systemic use of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological and economic control and/or abuse,” the proclamation reads, in part.

If you know someone affected by domestic violence, call The Shelter’s 24-hour crisis hotline at 239-775-1101. For more information on how to recognize and act on the signs of domestic violence, go online to naplesshelter.org/help