Communication with the victims family is one of the most important tools that law enforcement can utilize in order to solve a case.
Many families might not even realize how important they are to the investigation. They might not even know how much vital information they actually have.
Law enforcement needs to open up and continue communication with the families. They need to continually go back and ask more questions. Lots of questions. These questions can trigger memories of things the family didn’t even realize were important to solving the case.
Community policing is another tool that should be used. “Community policing is a philosophy of full service personalized policing, where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis, from a decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems.”—Bertus Ferreira (Bertus, Ferreira. The Use and Effectiveness of Community Policing in a Democracy . Prod. National Institute of Justice. Washington, D.C,, 1996.)
Partnering up with the communities they serve – the police have access to an important tool, especially when it comes to stalking cases. With the police no longer the sole guardians of law and order, all members of the community become active allies in the effort to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods. Police can’t do it alone. Partnering up with the community is a positive way to stop stalkers. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf
This is an excellent video to listen to about community policing and stalking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8reNGMUIHU
The message needs to get out. People that violate an order of protection show a course of conduct, and at that point you know that particular stalker is very dangerous. There are really amazing stalking task forces in some states – it would be wonderful if every county had stalking task forces. Please keep informed. Push for community policing in your town. Stay involved…it may ultimately save someone that you deeply care about.
I want to do everything in my power to raise awareness and help people to become knowledgable in order to keep other victims of stalking, like Morgan, safe as well as other families from going through the same horrors our family has had to endure. Keep well and keep informed…2015 is going to be a year of many changes.
