We do have laws, Angleterre, in NY in the US related to stalking:
120.45
Stalking in the fourth degree. B MISD
120.50
Stalking in the third degree. A MISD
120.55
Stalking in the second degree. E FELONY
120.60
Stalking in the first degree. D FELONY
I wanted to get an order of protection, after the stalking started. I was trying to see what I could gather so far as evidence to present. He knew what he was doing, committed acts and then would post about them vaguely on social media. But, vaguely. For instance, I would be sitting on the couch at my neighbor's house (a court officer, who was said to be his former John). The court officer would want to order sushi for dinner or something, hand me the menu and his phone, and ask me to order the usual stuff for him and pick out something for myself and my child. This was normal, and I thought of the court officer as my older brother or uncle. We hung out together with my stalker, and after my stalker cut usual contact, the court officer and I still maintained a friendship.
So, I have this menu in my hands, and the court officer excuses himself to the restroom in his house. I'm talking to the officer in the other room asking him if a certain order is ok, and suddenly his phone starts ringing--in my hand, with my stalker's number. I stare at the phone. The stalker hangs up, phone stops ringing. I say, to the other room, "I think I'm just going to get Gyoza," the phone begins ringing again, several rings, then stops. I say to the court officer in the other room, "I think (POI) is trying to call you, but he keeps hanging up." Court officer says loudly from the other room, "What does he want now...he's driving me crazy." Silence... I say, "I'm going to get your usual, do you want anything else?" Phone starts ringing again. Rings about three times, again, hangs up.
Five minutes later, I check my stalker's Twitter account, which was public. He posts, paraphrasing, "This new phone spying app is great." And then another few minutes later, "Bathroom time is not couples time." And another post, "Disappointed in you, (name of court officer)."
So, you see it was done very cleverly. Upsettingly so, because it was difficult to explain. I didn't know how to explain it. He often set things up so that he could, if caught, back out and have another explanation. For instance, if POI was parked in front of my house for an hour around the time my child was coming home from school, if confronted by someone else, he could say he was waiting for a package, at my neighbor's house (POI had his mail sent there). When I found a receipt for 36 red balloons on my lawn, on my 36th birthday, I knew it was from him. He purposely left out a new Visa credit card he applied for at the neighbors house, in full view, next to a stack of his mail in the living room on a tv console which was always extremely clean and uncluttered. The last 4 numbers on the receipt matched the last four on the card. But, then he picked up his Visa card later, so he could have said simply the receipt was trash--or it wasn't his.
After I moved, he went so far as to call my parents home, where I was in hiding, using court officer's phone, and then hung up. My mother called court officer and asked if he just called and he said no, POI was just using the phone.
There were many things that happened over several years. Yet, the people who could have helped me (namely court officer), did not. Right before I moved, I said I wanted to file an order of protection. He told me, in response,
he would be my order of protection. That was no help, obviously.
I know I am not alone. There are many people out there who have had things happen to them, and are either dissuaded from reporting because they are not taken seriously, or dissuaded because they have some sort of relationship with the person accused and do not want to get involved. Unfortunately, it allows things to go on, and sometimes escalate.
The sad fact, IMO, is that many of these behaviors are not taken seriously, and especially in cases of domestic violence. I'm sure there are many people out there with similar stories, in some way, in NY, and in the greater US.