In a seven-month span from 2020 and 2021, family violence crimes in the City of Odessa have risen by a little more than 10%.
The family violence crime numbers from January 2020 to July 2020 were 928, while those numbers have increased to 1,024 from January 2021 to July 2021, according to National Incident-Based Reporting System report provided by the Odessa Police Department.
On Monday morning, Odessa Police Department Chief Michael Gerke and Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis showed their support as Crisis Center of West Texas and Safe Place of the Permian Basin held a kickoff event in front of the Ector County Courthouse for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Gerke explained family violence crimes in the City of Odessa are some of the highest in Texas and he said unfortunately those numbers are on the rise.
“Domestic violence numbers are up again this year so far and that’s troublesome,” Gerke said. “We aren’t going to be able to arrest our way out of this problem. It’s going to take the community saying that we aren’t going to put up with this. The community has to say that we aren’t going to put with domestic violence anymore.”
Elizabeth Teixeira, the Prevention Services Director at the Crisis Center of West Texas, explained the Crisis Center provides a multi-step program free to anyone who needs their services.
Those services include respond, shelter and educate. However, Teixeira explained that if a person is going those domestic abuse and in immediate danger to contact local law enforcement.
Teixeira said for the last several years the Crisis Center of West Texas have really been focused on reducing the number of domestic violence homicides in the community.
“In March of 2020, we began a program with both agencies called ‘Lethality Assessment Protocol’,” Teixeira said. “That has really helped connect the most vulnerable domestic violence, those that are at most risk of lethal violence, to community services.
“That partnership with law enforcement to help us identify those most risk cases can help them get them into shelters and help get them into counseling.”
Crisis Center of West Texas Executive Director Lorie Dunnam said there is vast community support for people who are experience domestic violence.
“We have tremendous support from the community,” Dunnam said. “We have a great partnership with law enforcement, Safe Place of the Permian Basin, prosecutors and the entire city. We are very thankful for that, because not all communities have that.”
