Recent reports tell us crime is coming down. Stalking Awareness Month reminds us that the reverse is true with stalking.
In 2008, 1 million U.S. women and nearly 400,000 men were stalked. By January 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics numbers had risen to 3.4 million. Last month, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported stalking numbers to be more than 6 million.
Is it because more stalking crimes are reported? Stalking has long been under-reported, but so are many crimes. Is it because new technology makes it easy to stalk? The crime is now without geographical limits through the Internet, cell phones and global tracking devices.
What we do know, as international expert Reid Meloy said in a recent interview, is that stalkers believe they are above the law and can stalk with impunity. Research shows them to be right since they are rarely arrested or prosecuted.
For other than humanitarian reasons, why should you care? You too are in danger if your neighbors, co-workers and classmates are victims.
Recall the public stalking crimes where innocent bystanders were killed and injured. Stalkers are the most intelligent and violent of all criminals. Unlike other criminals, when incited to violence, stalkers don't just attack their "designated" victims, they attack everyone in their way.
The lives of family, friends and neighbors are often threatened by perpetrators as well - in attempts to force the intended victim to comply with their demands. This was the case in Tulsa in 2005 with Carrie Tudor, who was murdered by her ex-husband after he stalked and harassed her and her family for months.
Research denies the stereotypes that stalking victims are either entertainers, public figures or in domestic violence situations. Forty-five percent of victims do know the perpetrators, but they are not in intimate relationships.
Stalkers are co-workers, clients, neighbors, teachers and counselors. Twenty-five percent of perpetrators are strangers or unknown to the victim. Twenty-seven percent of victims are men. Only 30 percent of victims are in present or past relationships.
While stalkers may also batter, in most cases they are physically non-violent at first; they obsessively plan and scheme ways to make their victims' lives miserable so they will give in to their demands. They become violent only when rejected or stopped. The longer they stalk the more desperate and dangerous they become.
Two all-volunteer, nonprofit organizations, T.K. Wolf Inc. and Families and Communities Empowered for Safety (f.a.c.e.s.) began working together a number of years ago to expand knowledge about stalking and to find better interventions.
The groups have worked cooperatively to educate individuals, community groups, professionals, media and law enforcement about a crime that is so poorly understood. Recently a Coordinated Community Response specialist said, "When it comes to fighting crime, we get what the community as a whole demands."
It is often said that since stalking includes many crimes - identity, mail and bank account theft, wiretapping, breaking and entering, destruction of property and more - long before violence begins, it is a difficult crime to prosecute.
"Not so," said a law enforcement veteran at a recent police training session. "These are all crimes and I can arrest them for each and every one at the time - and I do. I have a list in my patrol car and when I arrest them I go through every single crime on the list to be certain I haven't omitted any. I also don't depend on detectives to do my work. I collect pictures, recordings, emails, journals, and all the evidence they have, and I interview neighbors, co-workers, relatives, bosses - everyone who has had access to the perpetrators and victims. I don't leave it to someone else."
This officer sets excuses aside and shows us in specific ways that we as a community can ask for, demand and obtain better enforcement.
Sherry Clark of Tulsa, is founder and president of Families and Communities Empowered for Safety.
Ann Dapice, Ph.D., Lenape/Cherokee, of Skiatook, Okla. is director of education and research for T.K. Wolf Inc., a 501(c)(3) American Indian organization