Collecting evidence against stalkers:Victim advocates say ‘how-to’ kits can help
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“Something” has turned into creating a “how-to” kit for catching, or at least discouraging, stalkers.
“Domestic violence can be scarier when victims leave,” said Hogan, who spoke at a stalking conference this week in Charleston. “Just because the victim leaves doesn’t mean the perpetrator or abuser stops abusing.
“He just might find another way to abuse. He may not be able to get his hands on her, so he stalks her, terrorizes her.”
More than 1 million women and nearly 371,000 men are stalked annually in the United States, according to the Stalking Resource Center in Washington, D.C., which based its data on 1998 figures — the most recent available.
Hogan, a criminal justice coordinator for the Shelter For Abused Women in Winchester, Va., began developing the stalking kits in 1998 with a federal grant to educate victims about collecting evidence and working with police.
“I didn’t know to keep times and dates, witnesses, didn’t know police didn’t always keep records,” said Hogan, who also is a reserve officer for the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department in Virginia.
The kits include tape recorders, disposable cameras, emergency cell phones, evidence bags, record logs and hand-held or door alarms.
The Stalking Resource Center has since been helping spread the word since 2002, said director Tracy Bahm.
So have other states.
The Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence began developing stalking kits two years ago after learning about them from officials in Wisconsin, said coalition project manager Cindy Murray.
“One woman commented that her ex-husband kept driving by and harassing her,” Murray said. “When she was actually able to go out and take a picture and prove that he was doing that, it just made her feel empowered.”
Murray said the ex-husband stopped driving by the woman’s home.
“I believe it was a fear that there really was going to be evidence of what he was doing,” she said.
The West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence hasn’t used such kits yet, but team coordinator Sue Julian said the group plans to study the idea.
“We are learning how to be more creative, intentional and accurate about collecting evidence,” Julian said. “That documentation can be handed over to police officers to be used in court cases to prove that person has been systematically terrorized.”
Hogan said many stalking cases are resolved without ever having to go to trial.
“We’re finding that when the police go over and talk to the perpetrator, that has eliminated a lot of that continuing when they think charges are going to filed,” she said.
Although the kits’ role in such cases is not known, they can help victims learn how to report stalking incidents and team up with police for help, she said.
Stalking is considered a crime under federal law and the laws of all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Homicide studies conducted in 1999 show that 76 percent of murdered women had been stalked by their killer, the Stalking Resource Center said.
Hogan said the last five domestic-related homicide cases she worked on in Virginia had elements of stalking.
While her own experience was painful, Hogan said it led her to become a victims’ advocate.
“I was not going to let that … happen to others,” she said. “I was going to make something good come of that.”
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Stalking Resource Center: http://www.ncvc.org/src/
National Domestic Violence hot line: 1-800-799-SAFE