Stalking Checklist

Thirty-eight percent of female stalking victims were stalked by current or former husbands, 10 percent by current or former cohabiting partners, and 14 percent by current or former dates or boyfriends.

What is stalking?

Definition:

Stalking refers to repeated harassing or threatening behavior by an individual, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).
Any unwanted contact between two people that directly or indirectly communicate a threat or places the victim in fear can be considered stalking.
According to the OVC's brochure "Stalking Victimization," anyone can be a stalker, just as anyone can be a stalking victim.
People who engage in stalking behavior can be a former intimate partner, acquaintance, stranger, relative, spouse, etc.

You may be a victim of stalking if someone is:

Repeatedly following or spying on youRepeatedly calling your home and/or work
Repeatedly sending you unwanted emails, letters, faxes, text messages, etc.
Leaving unwanted gifts or items for you
Vandalizing or damaging your property
Threatening you or someone close to you
Repeatedly showing up for no legitimate reason at places you go to, eg. the gym, dinner with friends, shopping, movies

Recording incidents of stalking

It is important for you to document all incidents of possible stalking and to report them to the police. Your local Domestic Violence Unit is available to help you and if they are unavailable, then any police officer at a station can take the report.

If you think you are being stalked it is essential that you keep a diary of incidents including the date, time, what happened, names of any witnesses, etc. (Template shown further down). If someone is intimidating you through technology then you need to keep any emails, letters, faxes, SMS messages sent to you as these can be used as evidence. Do not delete or destroy them!

Save any packages or gifts that you receive from the stalker. Handle these carefully in case they can be used to obtain forensic evidence such as fingerprints.

Even if you do not want to pursue charges at this stage, it is important that you record all incidents in case you change your mind in the future. Documenting every incident will assist the police in making a stronger case.

Important Fact

Stalking often involves a long term pattern of events which is why each and every incident you experience must be recorded and reported to police. One incident on its own may not appear to be associated with stalking, so each incident has to be recorded and reported so that police can identify if there is a pattern occurring. Make a record of every incident of stalking, no matter how many there are.

A good way to document incidents of stalking would be to keep a stalking incident log. This could include the following information:

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