Police CAN Help Victims of Organized Stalking
The Following is from a 2005 article by Eleanor White titled "Police CAN Do It"
Eleanor writes:
Police Officers:
Some of your colleagues are beginning to honestly say they know about group stalking/electronic harassment crimes.
This is to suggest that, contrary to the excuse that the police can't act to help organized stalking victims, there is one way they CAN, but so far the police don't seem to have considered the method I'm about to describe.
The reason the police haven't used this approach is (because) it is not considered "proper police procedure."
But if fact, the police do use this method on their "Cold Cases."
I suggest that busy detectives could simply start a file on organized stalking complaints.
That requires no more time than opening any other case.
From that point forward, as complaints and follow-up information roll in, one specific detective could BRIEFLY scan each submission and file it.
One type of complaint which might be especially useful is where targets report license plate numbers of people they suspect of being perpetrators.
Since the file would be confidential, targets could also be allowed to submit photographs of possible "perps."
From that point forward, I suggest, the detective's thought process is fully automatic.
Anyone qualified to be a police detective and open to the project will automatically, and practically effortlessly, ponder the submissions once in a while. (No need to set aside a lot of time for that).
From the "pondering stage," the detective will occasionally get an idea, a lead to check out when he/she has time.
To this point, there has been no intrusion into the time needed for regularly assigned cases.
Since organized stalking involves human beings, at least some of whom live or operate in the detective's jurisdiction,
my claim is that without much effort, a detective honestly open to the reality of organized stalking may will nab his first "perp."
From that point on, police management can allocate more resources to eventually stop the local stalking group.
This laid back, part time approach, which does not demand a large amount of the assigned detective's time, I suggest will work, and will be the beginning of exposing and stopping today's stalking groups.
This initiative would require the "street savoy" of an experienced detective to work, because the perpetrators would likely field a number of fake targets, to take up the detective's time, making him or her want to throw up his or her hands in disgust.
The fake targets would act crazy, moan, cry, demand action. and may generate a pile of questionable reports.
This requires that the cognizant detective be briefed ahead of time about the certainty of "perp" tactics.
As long as the cognizant detective has a good grip on the sleazier side of human psychology (and most detectives must in order to do their job successfully), the detective will develop a sense which will allow him or her to filter out the genuine complaints from the fakes, in most cases.
The police should also be told that they may not be able to distinguish real reports from fakes in all cases, but that it's very important that they move ahead and take the reports anyway, and that they don't have to spend lots of time trying to decide which ones are fakes.
TIME will help a great deal in distinguishing real reports from fakes.
The detective can significantly reduce his or her time by requiring all initial reports be made IN WRITING, out in the front lobby, attended by front desk staff, not detectives.
When the cognizant detective has time, he or she can do interviews by telephone, further reducing the time spent.
A second file, for probable fakes, will keep the fake reports available, but separated from the probable genuine reports.
The sheer importance of handling this huge crime, (affecting something like one person in a hundred), is too important not to try because of probable fake reports.
And one interesting side effect of perp faked reports is that they risk showing themselves to police by making faked reports, which is a crime in itself.
Eleanor White
Eleanor writes:
Police Officers:
Some of your colleagues are beginning to honestly say they know about group stalking/electronic harassment crimes.
This is to suggest that, contrary to the excuse that the police can't act to help organized stalking victims, there is one way they CAN, but so far the police don't seem to have considered the method I'm about to describe.
The reason the police haven't used this approach is (because) it is not considered "proper police procedure."
But if fact, the police do use this method on their "Cold Cases."
I suggest that busy detectives could simply start a file on organized stalking complaints.
That requires no more time than opening any other case.
From that point forward, as complaints and follow-up information roll in, one specific detective could BRIEFLY scan each submission and file it.
One type of complaint which might be especially useful is where targets report license plate numbers of people they suspect of being perpetrators.
Since the file would be confidential, targets could also be allowed to submit photographs of possible "perps."
From that point forward, I suggest, the detective's thought process is fully automatic.
Anyone qualified to be a police detective and open to the project will automatically, and practically effortlessly, ponder the submissions once in a while. (No need to set aside a lot of time for that).
From the "pondering stage," the detective will occasionally get an idea, a lead to check out when he/she has time.
To this point, there has been no intrusion into the time needed for regularly assigned cases.
Since organized stalking involves human beings, at least some of whom live or operate in the detective's jurisdiction,
my claim is that without much effort, a detective honestly open to the reality of organized stalking may will nab his first "perp."
From that point on, police management can allocate more resources to eventually stop the local stalking group.
This laid back, part time approach, which does not demand a large amount of the assigned detective's time, I suggest will work, and will be the beginning of exposing and stopping today's stalking groups.
This initiative would require the "street savoy" of an experienced detective to work, because the perpetrators would likely field a number of fake targets, to take up the detective's time, making him or her want to throw up his or her hands in disgust.
The fake targets would act crazy, moan, cry, demand action. and may generate a pile of questionable reports.
This requires that the cognizant detective be briefed ahead of time about the certainty of "perp" tactics.
As long as the cognizant detective has a good grip on the sleazier side of human psychology (and most detectives must in order to do their job successfully), the detective will develop a sense which will allow him or her to filter out the genuine complaints from the fakes, in most cases.
The police should also be told that they may not be able to distinguish real reports from fakes in all cases, but that it's very important that they move ahead and take the reports anyway, and that they don't have to spend lots of time trying to decide which ones are fakes.
TIME will help a great deal in distinguishing real reports from fakes.
The detective can significantly reduce his or her time by requiring all initial reports be made IN WRITING, out in the front lobby, attended by front desk staff, not detectives.
When the cognizant detective has time, he or she can do interviews by telephone, further reducing the time spent.
A second file, for probable fakes, will keep the fake reports available, but separated from the probable genuine reports.
The sheer importance of handling this huge crime, (affecting something like one person in a hundred), is too important not to try because of probable fake reports.
And one interesting side effect of perp faked reports is that they risk showing themselves to police by making faked reports, which is a crime in itself.
Eleanor White
