A report from Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath to the county law enforcement committee on his and other police departments responding to domestic distrubances shows an increasing trend that could be attributed to COVID-19 restrictions on travel and closed non-essential businesses.
“We've had many recent press inquiries related to domestic violence questions so I gathered three years of incident reports,” Sheriff Fath said. “We have so far this year 24 incidents compared to 22 last year and 17 in 2018.”
His data indicates the Eagle River police department had four in 2018, one in 2019, and none so far in 2020.
The Lac du Flambeau police department had 27 in 2018, 31 in 2019, and 64 in 2020. Chief Deputy Pat Schmidt was asked if drugs have had impacts in this area with Schmidt responding “drugs are an increasing issue in all areas of the county” and became more prevalent with changes in Michigan on marijuana possession.
Jail administrator Bill Weiss told the committee the current jail population is 87 that includes 17 state inmates. “We quarantine new arrivals for 14 days before release to the general population,” Weiss said, adding “we've tested one person and one staff member for COVID-19 with both being negative.”
