Uncovering Medford P.D. response to domestic violence calls, including critical resources to victims

MEDFORD, Ore — Following recent violent domestic violence calls across southern Oregon, we’re looking into how local police departments respond to the incidents.

“They are pretty dangerous calls for service for us to respond to,” Carson Chapman, officer with Medford Police Department, told NBC5 Monday. “Just because there’s always violence involved and a lot of heightened emotion.”

Chapman serves on the domestic violence task force within the department. The force is relatively new as its been around since 2015.

While investigating and following up on each case, the officer is accompanied by an advocate with Medford-based Community Works.

Chapman said the advocates help the people involved with housing, counseling, and other critical resources.

“The advocates are confidential so if something is not said in front of me, they get to keep that,” Chapman said. “So there’s a big bridge of trust between the advocate and the survivor of domestic violence.”

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the national hotline received about 21-thousand calls on a single day in 2020.

Chapman said numbers locally have remained steady.

“January 1st, 2021 to March 31st of 2022, we had approximately just under 400 cases,” Chapman said. “That’s not including calls for service, we have a lot more calls for service than cases.”

To quickly de-escalate the situation, MPD strongly encourages people to call police if there’s suspicion of domestic violence.

“Report it to the police, we are here to help even if its not something that rises to the level of a criminal case,” Chapman said. “We still can refer people to services that can help them.”

Help is available 24-7 for victims of domestic violence. The national hotline is: 800-799-SAFE (7233). People can also text, the one word “START” to 88788.