Crisis experts address stalker victimization

Family crisis experts say criminals are taking a modern approach to stalking, which may make it easier for police to catch them.

Teena McBride, executive director of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Center, said it used to be a crime that was hidden in the bushes and carried out without detection, but stalking has taken on a more modern identity.

“With all of the apps and all of the downloads that people have placed on other peoples phones, through computers, cyber stalking is an amazing world,” she said. “They can monitor your whereabouts and who you are having contact with.”

McBride said it may seem harmless at first but can soon get out of hand. This is something a client of the Idaho Falls center says she knows all too well. The client didn’t want her identity to be disclosed, but said she was stalked for over a year by an ex. She said she found out he was stalking her when he called one day to tell her he had left something outside her home.

“He wanted me to know that he had gotten me a gift and placed it on my car,” she said he got angry when she sent a friend out to retrieve the items and told her he was watching the whole thing. She filed a protection order when she started noticing his car outside her home, but police discovered even that couldn’t keep him away.

“Police questioned one of my neighbors and they told the police ‘during the night he parks down two or three houses and he sleeps in his truck and watches the house where she is staying,'” she said. “At that point I was so angry that he kept invading my world.”
McBride said this client isn’t alone. According to the National Family Crisis Center:

– 7.5 million people are stalked in one year in the United States.
– Over 85 percent of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.
– 61 percent of female victims and 44 percent of male victims of stalking are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
– 25 percent of female victims and 32 percent of male victims of stalking are stalked by an acquaintance.
– About 1 in 5 of stalking victims are stalked by a stranger.
– Persons aged 18-24 years experience the highest rate of stalking.
– 11 percent of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
– 46 percent of stalking victims experience at least one unwanted contact per week.

“In the minds of the stalker there is some type of relationship there, or there has been some relationship there,” said McBride. “You need to report it, you need to report the behaviors that are happening, whether that’s, I’m getting messages through texts or emails or through them being left on my window, somebody is following me.”

Stalking is a crime under the laws of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and the federal government. Less than one third of states classify stalking as a felony upon first offense. More than half of states classify stalking as a felony upon second offense or subsequent offense or when the crime involves aggravating factors. Aggravating factors may include: possession of a deadly weapon, violation of a court order or condition of probation/parole, victim under 16 years, or same victim as prior occasions.