Op-Ed: Help Make us All Safe From Stalkers

In honor of National Stalking Awareness Month, and due to the need in our area for education and training to effectively deal with stalking, I invite you to review the information and many resources available on the SPARC website.

Stalking is a serious crime. Its victims number over an astounding six million people in the United States on average, yearly, according to published U. S. government statistics. And it is happening right in our neighborhoods.

You may think that stalking only occurs when an intimate relationship suddenly ends, or an unbalanced person becomes fixated on another individual. However, this is not the case. Stalking activities are also carried out by groups of people with a common objective against a targeted individual, or set of individuals. The more manipulative of the perpetrators even use others to perform some of their stalking activities (stalking by proxy). Their tool chest is extensive: computers,cell phones, tablets to cyber stalk; hidden CCTV cameras to watch the movements of their targets, tracking devices secretly placed under cars--or, the more up-to-date method, a cell phone tracking app sent to the victim's phone via text message or email.

The perpetrators, if not stopped, often escalate their activity--with injury and even death being the outcome for their victims.

Proving stalking is a challenge for victims and for law enforcement since many of a stalker's actions do not, individually, break the law. It is in looking at the entirety of the course of action that a clear picture emerges showing intent to frighten, control, manipulate, or harm.

There is much that you can do to help make us all safe from those who would stalk us. First, become informed. Second, spread the word about National Stalking Awareness Month. Third, contact your county and state representatives and ask them to take action.

We need a new way of helping victims. It should include police-provided loaner equipment (CCTV, car cams, body cams) that can be used to document incidents, and the services of cyber experts who can trace stalker trails on computers and cell phones. Victims also need to be introduced to self-defense techniques that may save them from harm. Lastly, they need assistance with developing creative countermeasures, such as the use of decorative outdoor curtains that block the views of the cameras placed by stalkers to track their victims every movement.

While the proposed measures would help enormously, more is needed. We need to modify New York State stalking laws to include stalking by proxy. We also need to set up community safety circles, in which volunteers will keep tabs on victims to ensure that they are safe.

We are clearly living in difficult times. However, by working together and finding solutions, we will make our communities safer for ourselves, our families, and our friends.

Be Safe Be Vigilant

Anne Putko
Piermont, NY