As I spun mental laps around The Neighbor’s alarming behavior, a police officer, back at the station at the end of his shift, settled into a workstation. Wig-waggled the mouse to wake up the terminal. Opened a new file. Began writing the day’s reports:
I was working in uniform in a marked patrol car as unit 2-1-Alpha-7. At approximately 1400 hours, I was dispatched to <address redacted> to investigate a threats call.
I was working in uniform in a marked patrol car as unit 2-1-Alpha-7. At approximately 1400 hours, I was dispatched to <address redacted> to investigate a threats call.
Day 166, by West Midlands Police, www.flickr.com
The police report—available on request—has several redactions. Those are dark black lines that blot out information. A cover letter explained that the victim in the report requested them. Blocking her personal information. For protection. Although the victim had her information redacted, and the report freely available, to protect her further, I’ve changed details, while keeping the gist of the event.
The report also used a couple of prefixes to keep things straight. In theory, they clearly identify who is who. Oddly, if you’re new to reading police reports, it takes a bit of adjustment to read, with all those crazy identifiers. Anyway. The victim was identified with a “V,” followed by her redacted name. For example: V/<Name Redacted>. My stalker neighbor was also in the report. Her name prefixed with an “S.” Probably for “suspect.” It reads as S/The Neighbor.
All that said, let’s go back to the police report: I contacted V/<Name Redacted>. V/<Name Redacted> met S/The Neighbor through Facebook. S/The Neighbor was angry at, V/<Name Redacted>. She sent threats to V/<Name Redacted> in person, through cards, voice mails and Facebook messaging. V/<Name Redacted> saved all communication from S/The Neighbor.
The victim was smart, collecting all evidence immediately. By doing so, she created a paper trail, documenting the crime. Providing every bit of evidence only helps prove a request for help. The victim also summarized the number of times The Neighbor contacted her. It was in the hundreds.
V/<Name Redacted> is scared, feels threatened, and believes her life is in danger. She believes others are also in danger.
The victim was also smart to state her belief. At the time of that police report, my state’s laws required a victim to be in danger of bodily harm to get a stalking order. (My state has since changed its laws: victims now must only prove their fear, which made it easier to get help.) The victim communicated to the officer, tying it to a legal language he understood, why she needed help, and how he could help her.
Without correlating a crime to a law, the police cannot take action.
The victim, with all the evidence she collected, clearly backed up her fears of murder, which the officer records next: V/<Name Redacted> received a Facebook message on January 8 from S/The Neighbor. She showed it to me and forwarded it to me. It said, “Sweetie, you know I’m a wicked demon. A demon that will make you suffer. You have no idea the lengths I’m willing to take. Be prepared for torture, my dear.”
The report also used a couple of prefixes to keep things straight. In theory, they clearly identify who is who. Oddly, if you’re new to reading police reports, it takes a bit of adjustment to read, with all those crazy identifiers. Anyway. The victim was identified with a “V,” followed by her redacted name. For example: V/<Name Redacted>. My stalker neighbor was also in the report. Her name prefixed with an “S.” Probably for “suspect.” It reads as S/The Neighbor.
All that said, let’s go back to the police report: I contacted V/<Name Redacted>. V/<Name Redacted> met S/The Neighbor through Facebook. S/The Neighbor was angry at, V/<Name Redacted>. She sent threats to V/<Name Redacted> in person, through cards, voice mails and Facebook messaging. V/<Name Redacted> saved all communication from S/The Neighbor.
The victim was smart, collecting all evidence immediately. By doing so, she created a paper trail, documenting the crime. Providing every bit of evidence only helps prove a request for help. The victim also summarized the number of times The Neighbor contacted her. It was in the hundreds.
V/<Name Redacted> is scared, feels threatened, and believes her life is in danger. She believes others are also in danger.
The victim was also smart to state her belief. At the time of that police report, my state’s laws required a victim to be in danger of bodily harm to get a stalking order. (My state has since changed its laws: victims now must only prove their fear, which made it easier to get help.) The victim communicated to the officer, tying it to a legal language he understood, why she needed help, and how he could help her.
Without correlating a crime to a law, the police cannot take action.
The victim, with all the evidence she collected, clearly backed up her fears of murder, which the officer records next: V/<Name Redacted> received a Facebook message on January 8 from S/The Neighbor. She showed it to me and forwarded it to me. It said, “Sweetie, you know I’m a wicked demon. A demon that will make you suffer. You have no idea the lengths I’m willing to take. Be prepared for torture, my dear.”
Did my stalker collect police reports as trophies from her victims?
As I’m writing, I’m mentally placing this police report within my stalking time frame. It was filed sometime after The Neighbor revealed her fixation on me and before she dumped a stack of boxes, labeled POLICE, outside my door. A copy of that report was likely stashed in one box. It was only five pages. Took up a small amount of space. That report cross-referenced several related incidents, also taking up small amounts of space in those boxes. Jammed in between likely hundreds of pages of other police reports, and who knows what all else. Small slivers of pain. Trophies from destroying other people’s lives. Slowly adding me to her growing list of stalking victims.
Stalkers do tend to be repeat offenders, after all.
I wonder how much space I take up in those boxes.
As I write this, years later, I have the benefit of being an omniscient narrator. That’s the all-knowing person who tells a story, cluing the reader into things that the characters are ignorant about. However, at the time that police report, I was still a clueless character. Having hints, but still unaware just how dangerous the woman on the other side of the duplex was. I was careful with her, but not careful enough.
After The Neighbor's POLICE boxes didn’t get my attention, she took another a step further. If her dangerous qualities couldn’t grab me, perhaps her sexual prowess would.
Stalkers do tend to be repeat offenders, after all.
I wonder how much space I take up in those boxes.
As I write this, years later, I have the benefit of being an omniscient narrator. That’s the all-knowing person who tells a story, cluing the reader into things that the characters are ignorant about. However, at the time that police report, I was still a clueless character. Having hints, but still unaware just how dangerous the woman on the other side of the duplex was. I was careful with her, but not careful enough.
After The Neighbor's POLICE boxes didn’t get my attention, she took another a step further. If her dangerous qualities couldn’t grab me, perhaps her sexual prowess would.
