Stalking-Investigation Strategies.

On a warm summer evening in 1985, an officer received a call that shots had been fired at a residence. When the officer arrived at the home, a woman, crying and shaking, opened the door. The officer noticed blood trickling from the woman's head. She told the officer that she thought her ex-husband had broken into her house and fired a gun at her while she was sleeping. After investigating, the officer found a single .38-caliber round of ammunition embedded in the mattress near a pillow where the woman had been sleeping.

The woman explained to the officer that her divorce had been finalized just the week before. She also advised that her ex-husband had threatened her, saying, "If I can't have you, no one will." She described letters she had received from her ex-husband and the feeling that he had been watching her (i.e., he could recite her daily routine and who she had been with at a particular time). She said that she had not reported the incidents to the police because she did not think her ex-husband had committed a crime.

Upon further investigation, officers learned that her ex-husband suddenly had quit his job and sold his car and other possessions, and he had not been to his residence in another state for weeks. Additionally, evidence showed that the ex-husband had started drinking again after a long period of sobriety.

Despite the danger, the woman chose not to stay at a shelter until the police could apprehend her ex-husband. A few days later, the ex-husband waited for her at work. He shot her, emptying his .38-caliber revolver into her body at close range. He then committed suicide by driving his car into a large boulder.

Unfortunately for the victim in this real-life incident, her state had not yet enacted stalking laws. But if this tragic incident had occurred several years later, this woman might have reported her ex-husband's conduct to the police before the initial shooting. Moreover, if she had known what actions to take to protect herself, she might still be alive.

Stalking cases present unique challenges to law enforcement. Offenders do not adhere to predictable stalking patterns; therefore, no one knows what stalkers will do next or how far they will go. In some instances, stalkers limit harassment to annoying phone calls and letters, but other cases can escalate to assault or homicide.

CATEGORIZING STALKERS

Most stalking cases involve a male offender and a female victim who had some type of prior intimate relationship with each other. [1] Although not as common, other types of stalking cases include acquaintance stalking, where the stalker and the victim may know each other casually (e.g., co-workers or neighbors), and stranger stalking, where the stalker and the victim do not know each other at all (e.g., victims who are celebrities or public figures). Often, acquaintance and stranger stalkers have a mental disorder such as erotomania--a delusional belief that the victim loves them. [2]

Studies reveal that most stalking cases average 1 year or less. [3] During this time, stalkers may exhibit many types of behaviors. Although stalking cases differ in intensity and length, they share many characteristics, such as repetitive acts. The most common stalking activities include following or spying on the victim and attempting to communicate with the victim by telephone and mail. [4] Whatever techniques a stalker uses, law enforcement officers should advise victims to document all incidents, which they may use against offenders at a later time.

COLLECTING EVIDENCE

Evidence collection starts with the victims. Officers should explain the importance of preserving all evidence. Victims should record each time they see the stalker or when any contact is made. Further, victims should document specific details, such as time, place, location, and any witnesses. Messages on answering machines, faxes, letters, and computer e-mail messages provide useful resources to build a case against the offender. [5] Law enforcement agencies should consider providing the victim with a small tape recorder to facilitate the collection of this information. Additionally, when victims receive objects or mail from stalkers, their first instinct is to discard these items. Investigators should emphasize the necessity of maintaining all evidence, which may be used to support victim credibility in some cases. Assigning a number to the case and asking the victim to refer to it when calling for service can facilitate evidence collection.

Documentation

Law enforcement officers should encourage victims to report in a journal how the stalking has affected them and their lifestyle. For example, they should indicate sleep lost; days missed from work; and the need to seek counseling, obtain new phone numbers, get door locks replaced, or even move. This information can help convince a jury of the victim's fear and trauma. The journal also can serve as a memory refresher for the victim if the case does not go to trial immediately after the subject's arrest. Subsequently, officers should inform the victim that the defense also will have the right to review the journal.

Because harassing phone calls remain the most common stalking behavior, law enforcement officers should encourage victims to use an answering machine to screen their calls. At the same time, victims should obtain an unlisted phone number or use a different name for a second phone line. Phone companies offer many options for identifying incoming calls, such as caller ID, and procedures to trace the source of the calls.

Interview

Law enforcement officers should consider a noncustodial interview of the suspect. In some cases, investigators might not have enough probable cause to arrest the suspect, but often, offenders will make admissions about their victims. Even denials in the face of clear contradicting evidence can help prove guilt. Officers should check all of the suspect's alibis.

After the interview concludes, officers should provide a form letter advising the suspect of the stalking statute and warning that future contact with the victim could result in a charge against the suspect. This will aid the prosecutor because it establishes that the subject purposefully or knowingly stalked the victim. The investigator should personally serve the letter to the offender, documenting the date and time on the original.

Surveillance

Another investigative strategy involves surveilling suspects at times when they would likely stalk the victim, such as when the victim goes to, or returns from, work. Additionally, agencies should consider electronically tracking the offender's vehicle or installing concealed cameras outside the victim's home. Many convicted stalking offenders have revealed that they repeatedly engage in some type of behavior that never gets detected.

Further, officers should check for external security cameras in areas where the victim has reported seeing the suspect. Many banks and businesses have cameras that monitor exterior parking lots and intersections and may have caught the subject on tape.

Search Warrant

Executing a search warrant for the suspect's personal and work computers, residence, and vehicle can prove useful in many circumstances. Officers should look for spying equipment (e.g., binoculars or a camera with a telephoto lens), photos, and any property belonging to the victim. These items can enhance the stalking prosecution. Further, agencies should consider working with postal inspectors to establish a mail cover of the offender's outgoing mail. This authorizes the postal service to monitor outgoing mail from the suspect's residence.

Other Options

Investigators should look beyond the stalking statute and consider charging stalkers under alternative statutes, which might result in quicker legal action. Harassment or trespassing charges can provide early intervention and place the case in the court system, which can administer bail or sentencing supervision options, while establishing a history of stalking behavior that prosecutors can use later to enhance sentencing.

Additionally, Congress passed new federal laws criminalizing interstate stalking and crossing state lines to violate protection orders. [6] Law enforcement officers should consult with the U.S. attorney in their jurisdictions for investigative procedures to employ when a stalker crosses state lines.

PLANNING VICTIM SAFETY MEASURES 

Although officers should advise victims that they cannot guarantee their protection, law enforcement agencies can recommend certain safety rules and precautions for stalking victims to follow. First, officers should advise the victim to seek a protection order from the stalker. Generally, to obtain this order, victims must demonstrate how their safety is at risk from any assaultive, threatening, or stalking behavior by the offender. Each state can enforce the order, which prohibits a broader range of conduct than stalking statutes. For example, the order can forbid any type of contact between the stalker and the victim. The victim does not have to establish a threat or demonstrate fear in order to support a charge of violating a restraining order.

Notification

Police officers should encourage victims to inform their neighbors and employers that they have a restraining order against an offender. Victims can prepare a notice describing the offender's physical appearance and vehicle information. The notice should request that anyone who sees the offender on restricted property contact the police. Investigators also should refer victims to shelter advocates for safety planning advice.

Confidentiality

Law enforcement agencies should advise victims to instruct utility companies, motor vehicle departments, and offices with public property records to keep address and account information confidential. Additionally, the investigator may consider preparing a form letter for stalking victims to send to such companies, asking that the recipient of the letter honor the confidentiality request. Further, victims can change their social security numbers more easily today, making it difficult for offenders to trace their locations in this manner. Victims also should destroy all discarded mail and avoid talking on portable phones, which other individuals can easily intercept.

Security

Officers should inform victims about simple security measures to initiate, such as obtaining and carrying cellular phones, changing their daily routines (i.e., using different routes to go to work and home and varying regular shopping locations), changing locks on their homes, and taking basic home security measures, such as locking all doors and windows and knowing the location of their nearest police station and firehouse. Investigators should recommend that victims establish an escape plan at work or home. When possible, victims should request escorts; they should not go out alone.

Arrest

When arresting offenders, police officers should complete an extensive background investigation that goes beyond the standard booking information. Because of the increased risk of homicide in stalking cases involving individuals who once had an intimate relationship, investigators should ask the victim and the offender's friends and family if the suspect has made suicidal threats, lost a job, recently acquired a weapon, or made threats, such as "If I can't have you no one will," to the victim. Most domestic violence homicide investigators can declare that this type of conduct precedes domestic homicide. This experience enables investigators to qualify as experts when testifying at bail hearings about the dangerousness of stalkers.

Further, agencies always should conduct a criminal background check to determine any prior record of violence, as well as prior defaults on court appearances. This information, combined with the lethality assessment, can assist the prosecutor in seeking a higher bail. If the court system grants the offender pretrial release, jurisdictions may consider various electronic monitoring systems, court-ordered medication (e.g., antidepressants), or supervision by pretrial probation services. Law enforcement agencies also may consider implementing a system to immediately notify the victim of the subject's release or violation of probation.

CONCLUSION

At one time, the behavior associated with stalking was not considered a crime. Today, however, most jurisdictions have criminalized stalking. Moreover, greater awareness has led to the ability to charge offenders under such statutes as harassment or trespass. This capability often hinges on the investigator's ability to collect evidence and protect the victim.

Investigators should provide victims with the support they need to gather evidence and keep themselves safe. Victims should document and report every incident, save proof of the offender's behavior, and, most important, take safety precautions. Community service organizations can provide a lifeline for victims in this regard.

Stalking represents a crime that can leave victims psychologically traumatized, physically injured, or even dead. For the sake of these victims, members of the criminal justice community need to take stalking threats seriously and work together to pursue, arrest, and prosecute stalkers.

Endnotes

(1.) U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, "Third Annual Report to Congress Under the violence Against women Act" (Washington, DC, July 1998), 10.

(2.) Susan Cullen Anderson, "Anti-Stalking Laws: Will They Curb the Erotomaniacs' Obsessive Pursuit?" Law and Psychology Review 17 (1993): 171.

(3.) Supra note 1, 21.

(4.) Supra note 1, 13.

(5.) Robert L. Snow, Stopping Stalking: A Cop's Guide to Making the System Work for You (New York: Plenum Press, 1998), 198.

(6.) 18 U.S.C. [ss] 2261A and [ss] 2262.