Stop stalking sooner
Kristin Dragos
Issue date: 9/28/09 Section: Opinion
Imagine dating a pilot, which would be pretty cool if you like to fly. Now imagine going through a horrible breakup, and your ex is now stalking you … with his/her plane.
An article on MSNBC.com tells this story. A woman was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who managed to fly low over her house periodically for a year before anything was done. Her neighbors kept calling to complain and filing reports, and it took the police one year to figure out what was going on. The woman filed for a restraining order one year ago, and her ex was served with it last week.
My question is this: what took so long? Being stalked can be a scary thing, and until violence is a factor, not much is usually done about it. The only thing people could do is to keep a record of what is going on and file police reports about it.
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, as much as 83 percent of stalking incidents on college campuses go unreported to the authorities, but 93 percent of victims confide in someone. They suspect that it is because many people don't see incidents as being severe enough, or they didn't know it was a crime. Ignorance is no excuse. If it's a direct or indirect threat to you or your family, through e-mail, phone calls or loitering outside your residence, it's a crime.
Incidents need to occur a minimum of two times to be considered stalking. If this woman was being stalked for a year by her ex-boyfriend, he had to have flown over her house more than two times. If all stalking cases took over a year to get resolved, there would be many people living in fear every day of their lives. It's time that we do something about the issue. Report stalking early, file reports and expect results. If your friend confides in you, encourage them to report it, and go with them for moral support.
An article on MSNBC.com tells this story. A woman was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who managed to fly low over her house periodically for a year before anything was done. Her neighbors kept calling to complain and filing reports, and it took the police one year to figure out what was going on. The woman filed for a restraining order one year ago, and her ex was served with it last week.
My question is this: what took so long? Being stalked can be a scary thing, and until violence is a factor, not much is usually done about it. The only thing people could do is to keep a record of what is going on and file police reports about it.
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, as much as 83 percent of stalking incidents on college campuses go unreported to the authorities, but 93 percent of victims confide in someone. They suspect that it is because many people don't see incidents as being severe enough, or they didn't know it was a crime. Ignorance is no excuse. If it's a direct or indirect threat to you or your family, through e-mail, phone calls or loitering outside your residence, it's a crime.
Incidents need to occur a minimum of two times to be considered stalking. If this woman was being stalked for a year by her ex-boyfriend, he had to have flown over her house more than two times. If all stalking cases took over a year to get resolved, there would be many people living in fear every day of their lives. It's time that we do something about the issue. Report stalking early, file reports and expect results. If your friend confides in you, encourage them to report it, and go with them for moral support.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Think
posted 9/28/09 @ 5:37 PM CST
"If all stalking cases took over a year to get resolved, there would be many people living in fear every day of their lives."
Wouldn't they just be living in fear for that year? I guess if they only lived to be a year old then they would be "living in fear every day of their lives. (Continued…)
maple
posted 9/28/09 @ 10:03 PM CST
MapleSEA has always been about maple story the same level as GlobalMS. MSEA got the Knights of Cygnus, GMS got Koc, MapleSEA got the Pirate class firstmaple story mesos,then we got it. (Continued…)
h
posted 9/28/09 @ 10:05 PM CST
How did Nexon America begin maple story and what exactly is Wizet's relationship to Nexon? What is Wizet's current status?Nexon America is Nexon Corporation's North American publishing maple story mesos and game service arm. (Continued…)
Post a Comment