People are working from home now more than ever before.

A record number of layoffs has made finances a concern for many families.

And nationally, experts are gearing up for a rise in the number of domestic violence cases that they believe will arise as a result of the external stressors affecting households across the country.

Locally, however, that has not been the case.

According to law enforcement officials in Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop, there has been no noticeable increase in the number of domestic calls that police have responded to over the course of the last several weeks.

As limiting the movement of people around the globe and forcing people to stay indoors has led to warnings about the increase of domestic violence, Ripon Police Lt. Danny Sauer said that going through the arrest reports and the crime logs the past few weeks have backed up those concerns with data.

Because domestic dispute calls require officers to have backup before making contact with the parties – the volatile nature of household disputes becomes much more dangerous for officers – an uptick, Sauer said, would have been noticeable even before the reports were compiled.

“It’s something that we’ve been talking about, and it’s something that we expected to see,” Sauer said. “But so far that hasn’t been the case. I’ve been doing the weekly logs and haven’t noticed anything that stands out.”

In the City of Manteca, the experience is very much the same.

According to a Manteca Police official, the uptick that has been seen other places has not yet surfaced in Manteca although it is being monitored.

A Lathrop official shared a similar tale – preparation and expectation but not yet the increase that organizations like the United Nations have warned about across the globe.

And services that protect women and children from domestic violence are also having to change the way that they do things in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the website for the Women’s Center Youth and Family Services in Stockton, support groups and parenting courses are currently cancelled until further notice and the organization’s fundraiser luncheon and victim assistance training classes have been postponed until further notice. With a limit on in-person services, the organization is relying on its 24-hour helplines to help women and families in crisis while the youth drop-in center and the organization’s office are temporarily closed to the public.

For more information about services that are available to victims of domestic violence, contact Women’s Center Youth and Family Services at 209.465.4878 or visit them online at www.womenscenteryfs.org.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.