Jan 17, 2024 3 min read

By Leslie Ridge, Megan Hegedus and Joanna Dragan

January marks the 20th annual National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM), an annual call to action to recognize and respond to this criminal, traumatic, and dangerous victimization.

Stalking impacts nearly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in the United States, but too often goes

unrecognized and unaddressed. It takes all of us – advocacy and support services, legal systems, and victims/survivors and their friends and family – to better recognize and respond to stalking.

This month, the Washington County STOP Team, which focuses on combating domestic and

sexual violence through comprehensive investigation, prosecution, and support for victims, invites you to join our efforts to spread awareness about stalking.

Stalking is a dangerous and devastating victimization in its own right and often intersects with

physical and sexual violence. Survivors often suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe

depression as a result of their victimization, and many lose time from work or relocate. ,

Stalking can impact every aspect of a survivor’s life, yet many victims, families, service providers, criminal and civil justice professionals, and the general public underestimate its danger and urgency. The vast majority of victims tell friends or family about their situation, and how we respond influences whether they seek further help or not.

Stalking is defined as a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a

reasonable person to feel fear or emotional distress. Individual incidents in the pattern may or may not be criminal acts. Most stalkers target people that they know, and the majority of stalkers are intimate partners or acquaintances who often have intimate knowledge about the victim’s

vulnerabilities and fears.

Most stalkers use technology and in-person tactics to watch, contact, threaten, sabotage, or

otherwise frighten their victims. Common stalking tactics include unwanted calls, texts,

email messages, showing up uninvited, spreading rumors, and being followed and watched.

NSAM’s theme of “Know It. Name It. Stop It.” is a call to action for everyone in our local

communities. We all have a role to play in identifying stalking, intervening when necessary, and

supporting victims and survivors. In partnership with the Stalking Prevention Awareness Resource Center (SPARC), the Washington County STOP Team calls on individuals to become educated on recognizing and reporting different types of domestic and sexual violence.

If you are in need of assistance or if you would like to learn more about how you can make a difference for those impacted by domestic and sexual violence, please visit: www.peacefromdv.org or www.sttars.sphs.org.

Leslie Ridge is the first assistant district attorney of Washington County. Megan Hegedus is the CEO designate of Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Joanna Dragan is the supervisor of sexual violence services at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services CARE Center.