Stalking is something that many people don’t have a grasp of. Most people understand stalking as someone following around another person and may be attempting to enter their lives. However, stalking goes much deeper than that. In this article, we’ll discuss stalking and why it’s important to act as soon as possible.
How Does Stalking Start?
Stalking can start with inappropriate correspondence, a romantic or business relationship, an email, gifts, or more. It can basically start as any seemingly normal situation. You may make a new friend at your new job, and that could be the beginning of the stalking.
In many cases, victims of stalking receive inappropriate correspondence or communication in person that can be threatening. Stalkers typically look for ways to communicate with their victims in some way, and can even manipulate specific situations where they could make this happen. For example, someone might pretend that their car has broken down outside of your home just to get an invite inside.
In many cases, stalking doesn’t happen because a stranger saw you on the street. Stalkers are typically those who you know personally or have had some type of relationship with in the past.
Signs That You’re Being Stalked
As we have mentioned, inappropriate correspondence is often the first sign that you’re being stalked. At WPG, we have a list of over ten criteria for a threat assessment to determine the level of dangerousness an individual sending the correspondence may be.
Anything from receiving letters to threats of suicide can be considered stalking, so it’s important that you work with professionals if you believe you are being stalked.
What To Do If You’re Being Stalked?
If you’re being stalked, or you believe you are being stalked, it’s important to do something about it immediately. Waiting puts you more at risk than anything else. You should act on a possible stalking as soon as possible, getting professional help and reaching out to local law enforcement.
Restraining Orders
We believe that it’s always best to inform local law enforcement about a potential stalker situation. However, many people believe that a simple restraining order will do the trick and get rid of their stalker.
A restraining order is often the first thing people think to do when they feel threatened by another individual. However, this piece of paper can make matters much worse. The person named in the restraining order must be afraid to violate the terms of the order in order for the piece of paper to be effective. Oftentimes, criminals see the restraining order for what it really is, just a piece of paper.
A restraining order can also trigger an attack. When a restraining order is served, it becomes a high-level threat time. We can never fully predict how an individual will react. It could trigger them to go after the victim with violence, even if they hadn’t ever planned on that before.
You should also consider the fact that criminals don’t care about the law. If they did, there wouldn’t be such a thing as a restraining order.
Get Help Immediately
When you believe you’re being stalked, it’s important to retain the services of a professional executive protection agency. If you’re considering serving a restraining order or already have, this timing is incredibly crucial. Protection services are necessary for a few weeks before you serve the restraining order. This allows the executive protection team to look into the individual and find out more information about your needs.
Your executive protection team may also recommend surveillance on the individual to make sure they will not try to do you harm before the restraining order is served.
Once the order is served, it’s not a good idea to assume that you are safe. It’s important to remain proactive when it comes to your protection. After the restraining order is served, we can’t predict someone’s reaction to it, which means now is a crucial time to make sure you’re protected.
You should have protection for at least two more weeks after that. During this time, we’ll do surveillance on the restrained individual to make sure that they’re not planning an attack. We will also have physical protection around the individual and their family members to make sure if the criminal does lash out, no one will be harmed.
What Does WPG Do for Victims of Stalking?
While surveillance is an important security measure when it comes to protecting an individual being stalked, WPG goes above and beyond to ensure the safety of our clients.
We catalogue all of the correspondence between the victim and the stalker to develop a strategy that allows us to effectively manage the threat. We believe it’s’ best to be proactive, which helps us and our clients avoid dangerous situations.
We make sure to investigate the person to learn about their mental health and history of criminal acts to ensure we have the right plan in place.
If you’re being stalked, it’s time to act.
