How to Keep Records of Stalking | Keeping Incidents in Date Order
What a consultation desk asks
Suppose the intercom rang at 2:15 a.m., but no one appeared on the recording. When this is reported at a police consultation desk, the person may be asked, "Was there any actual harm?"
To understand the situation, the person receiving the consultation needs specific information: when, where, and what happened. An incident that is hard to assess on its own can be read as a course of events when several incidents are arranged in date order. How the police respond depends on the circumstances of each case.
Records written afterwards
In a frightening situation, it may not be possible to note the date, time, and place on the spot. When an incident is written down later from memory, adding the date of writing to the record shows when the record was made.
Dividing the incidents
Dividing incidents into contact during everyday movements and contact with the residence makes the course of events easier to follow. This division is for organizing only. Which category an incident falls into, and how it is assessed legally, is for the place of consultation to judge.
Contact during everyday movements
- Being followed when coming home or going out
- Being waited for in shared areas (entrance, elevator)
- Seeing the person near one's workplace or school
- Repeated encounters with the same person
Contact with the residence and daily life
- Items put in the mailbox or left at the door
- Late-night intercom calls or turning of the doorknob
- Signs that someone entered the balcony
- Repeated silent calls or calls from withheld numbers
Incidents that fit neither category, or whose connection is unclear, can be recorded separately as "reference information." Mixing them with the main record makes the course of events harder to read.
Items to record for each incident
For each incident, the record contains the date and time, the place, what happened, and the materials that remain. Guesses about the other party's intentions are written separately from observed facts.
| Date and time | When it happened. If the exact time is unknown, it is written as "around [date]" or "estimated around [time]," with the basis if there is one. |
|---|---|
| Place | Where it happened: the building entrance, inside the elevator, the exit of the nearest station, and so on. |
| What happened | The observed facts, written as "I was ...," "I saw ...," "I heard ...." |
| Materials | What remains: photos, screenshots, receipts, a diary, message history, with file names and dates. |
Materials at hand
A convenience store receipt shows that the writer was at a particular store at 7:42 p.m. on January 22, 2024. It can serve as support for the date, time, and place of an incident. Materials at hand can be reviewed from the standpoint of whether they show when and where the writer was.
Examples of materials that can be used in the record
- Smartphone photos (the date, time, and location may be recorded)
- Intercom recording logs and call history
- Receipts from convenience stores or stations (support for the time of an incident)
- Messages to friends or family (a record of when the writer told someone on the same day)
- A planner or diary (entries written by the next day are easier to date)
- Photos of items put in the mailbox or left at the door
- Security camera footage from the building (a request to the management company to preserve it is required)
Security camera footage may be kept only for a limited period. One option is to ask the management company or the store early on whether the footage can be preserved.
What date order shows
Arranged in date order, changes in frequency and place become visible that were hard to see when each incident was looked at on its own. If contact that occurred once in December became two or three times a week from mid-January, and the place moved from the hallway and entrance to the mailbox, the intercom, and the doorknob, that course of events can be shown to the place of consultation.
Steps and an example of the output
- Write out the incidents that are remembered, from diaries, notes, lists of photos, and messages, in any order. They can be written in spoken language or as bullet points.
- Divide them into contact during everyday movements and contact with the residence. Incidents that fit neither are recorded separately as "reference information."
- Rearrange them by date and time, and check for changes in frequency, place, and content.
When records like these are entered into the organizing tool, it outputs a statement of facts and a chronology such as the following.
1. Overview
The writer records stalking and contact with the residence by a man living in the same apartment building (the "subject"). The frequency of contact increased from January 2024, and late at night on February 1, the writer heard the doorknob being turned from outside.
2. Chronology (excerpt)
| Date/time | Type | What happened | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/15 23:30 | Approach | The subject was waiting at the building entrance and followed the writer in. | Diary |
| 01/18 07:10 | Approach | While the writer was taking out the trash, the subject put his hand in the closing elevator door and got on, and looked at the writer without speaking. | Photo |
| 01/22 19:45 | Approach | On the way back from a convenience store, the subject followed about 50 m behind. The writer saw him waiting in the shadows. | Receipt |
| 02/01 23:50 | Residence | The writer heard the metallic sound of the front doorknob being turned from outside, twice. The door was locked, and no one entered. | LINE |
The actual output depends on what is entered. When AI organizes an account, content not in the original record may be added, and content that was written may be dropped. How often this happens is measured in the research reports.
Types of places that take consultations
Places that take consultations include the police, lawyers, and consultation desks run by local governments and others. Which one handles a matter depends on the situation.
This article introduces general information and is not legal advice on any individual case.