New D.A. Unit to Stake Out Stalking Cases

“Stalking has been a problem for a long time,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Rhonda Saunders, a nationally recognized expert on the issue. “We just didn’t have a name for it.”

This month she helped launch the Stalking and Threat Assessment Team, an anti-stalking unit in the district attorney’s office.

The two-person unit also includes Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Gordon and will work on everything from preventing the crime to tracking convicted stalkers after they complete their jail terms.

“We are starting slow, but we want to make it a bigger unit eventually,” she said.

In the last few years, part of Saunders’ work on the issue included lobbying the California Legislature to strengthen laws against stalking--which until six years ago was not a crime.

Only in the last few years has stalking been taken seriously in the criminal justice system, Saunders said.

Not long ago victims rarely approached the police when they repeatedly were followed home or received threatening phone calls. Law enforcement arrested stalkers but only after actual assaults or killings.

But in 1991 the California Legislature passed an anti-stalking bill that was a good start--but also far from perfect, Saunders said.

For one, it made stalking a misdemeanor. Also, the victim’s life had to be in immediate danger to warrant an arrest. In other cases, officers’ hands were tied if a restraining order had not been filed.

Saunders worked with legislators to pass a stronger package in 1994.

Stalking was redefined as a pattern of two or more actions perpetrated by a person to intentionally instill fear in a victim or the victim’s family--regardless of whether any lives were in immediate danger.

It was also made a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

“California now has the strongest stalking laws in the country,” Saunders said.

States’ laws were reinforced last year when a federal law was passed to target stalking across state lines.

In the last few years, reported stalking in Southern California seems to be increasing, Saunders said. There are no statistics, and it’s not clear whether the crime is more frequent or it is being reported more, she said.

There does not seem to be a profile for a stalker.

“Anyone can be a stalker and anyone can be a stalking victim,” Saunders said.

Men who stalk women get the most news media coverage, said Saunders, who recently prosecuted the transient who harassed entertainer Madonna. But she also recently prosecuted a woman who stalked her former female lover by hiding in the crawl space of the victim’s house.

Obtaining successful prosecutions rests largely with the victims’ willingness to talk, she said.

Those who believe they are being stalked should report the incidents to the local police or the Sheriff’s Department, which gather the evidence used by the deputy district attorneys in trials. Victims should document everything useful, such as phone messages or letters, she said. They should even keep a diary of stalking incidents.

Her unit will prosecute cases but also will try to prevent serious injuries, Saunders said. That can be done by incarcerating aggressors after as few incidents as possible or by requiring counseling for them after prison.

“Stalking is a crime of intervention,” she said. “The law allows us to stop a murder or a rape from occurring.”