Half as many Tulsans were killed by their romantic partners last year than in 2017.
Family Safety Center Executive Director Suzann Stewart said domestic violence homicides dropped from 18 to nine.
"The people who are being murdered by their partners in this community are those who are flying under the radar, who are not accessing services and are, therefore, a little bit more susceptible to the lethality in those relationships," Stewart said.
There’s another trend police officers and intervention services have picked up on.
"Strangulation is an indicator that someone’s much more willing to kill and also much more willing to kill police officers when they respond," said Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan. "We’re now doing as part of our lethality assessment, we’re asking those questions, and we’re getting people special help if they have been a victim of strangulation of any kind."
Strangulation victims are referred to the Family Safety Center, a nonprofit resource for people experiencing intimate partner violence. The center is seeing a year-over-year increase in people served of about 25 percent.
The center's repeat client list is growing faster than their first-time one. Their demographics closely track the city’s, though the center saw a drop in Hispanic access around the 2016 election.
Stewart said the Family Safety Center is having trouble helping certain populations, mainly homeless people suffering from addiction or mental illness right now.
"Finding appropriate shelter for people who are being abused by other homeless people — and they have these other, underlying issues — are very, very complicated," Stewart said.
Elder abuse by adult children taking care of them is another growing problem. Despite those challenges, Stewart said no Family Safety Center client has been the victim of a domestic violence homicide.
