SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Police Department released its annual domestic violence report, detailing the number of calls, areas of the city, and time of the year when calls are made most frequently.
According to the report, in 2013, there were 44,695 calls related to domestic violence within the city, with an overwhelming majority of them coming from the West Patrol substation.
In fact, West Patrol had 12,196 calls for service in 2013, more than double other areas, including North and Central Patrols, who stood at 5,974 and 5,433, respectively.
"It affects all socioeconomic levels (and) races, so as far as San Antonio, it's prevalent here as it is throughout the United States," said Annette Espronceda, a member of SAPD's Crisis Response Team.
Espronceda, a civilian, works alongside uniformed Officer Rachel Mendez to follow up in the aftermath of an alleged domestic assault.
Both agree that domestic violence happens everywhere, regardless of location within the city.
"A lot of victims don't understand the laws, and don't understand that when you're slapped, it's still an assault. It's still an offense, and you can still pursue charges on that," Mendez said. "And our role is to explain to victims that it's not OK, and that they can pursue charges on that."
The report also states that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are consistently the highest reporting days of the week, and the summer is the highest reporting time of the year.
The report also noted that the findings are not an accurate representation of domestic crime in the city, as there are exponentially more calls than crimes.
As for 2014, the numbers are still being analyzed, but preliminary findings show calls related to domestic violence are slightly down from 2013, at a rate of 0.9 percent.