Family Support Services: Domestic violence trends in Amarillo are continuing to increase

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - According to Family Support Services, domestic violence trends are on the rise in Amarillo.

An FSS Safe House Manager says that the biggest concern that they have right now is the number of lethal violence calls they respond to.

“These aren’t the run of the mill, you know domestic violence, these are the really scary situations that could turn lethal at any moment,” says Family Support Services, Safe House Manager, Hannah Wetmore.

In cooperation with law enforcement, FSS started D.A.L.E,, which stands for Dangerous Assessment with Law Enforcement.

This program allows local law enforcement to assess if someone is in a dangerous situation during any call they go on, whether it’s domestic or not.

“They’re gonna be doing that assessment with law enforcement to see if there is any lethal danger and it asks about 10 different questions, and so you score it off of that, if they score a seven or above law enforcement are calling us,” says Wetmore.

The pilot program was put into effect last April.

Wetmore says that since January they have received over 800 domestic violence calls and around 40 D.A.L.E calls.

To find out more about Family Support Services and some of the services that they offer, click here.

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