The concept of stalking may seem confined to 'CSI Whatever Town', but one professor is looking to highlight the issue. He's also asking if workplaces can take reasonable precautions for what he calls a deadly workplace phenomenon. 

A recent report published the University of Gloucestershire found stalking was present in 94% of the 358 murder cases they looked at. The research was led by Dr. Jane Monckton Smith, a former police officer turned criminologist. 

Speaking to Newstalk.com Craig Jackson, Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at Birmingham City University, says the report is not a surprise.  

"A decade of stalking research shows that many stalking behaviours and the perpetrators go unreported or are not dealt with early enough. This is partly due to under-reporting by victims, but also by agencies not knowing what to act upon and how."

Jackson defines stalking as "unwanted and unwarranted continued attention and contact from the perpetrator to the victim, which results in distress or fear".

Stalkers

Many of us may jokingly think of a stalker as a person who snoops through friends of friends' social media accounts, but in reality, there are a number of types of stalker, as Jackson explains. 

"Some stalkers can, of course, be colleagues of the victim, or even customers or clients who have come into some form of contact. A smaller number of stalkers choose a victim in a particular workplace just because the job gives them easy access, such as telephonists or receptionists. Not all workplace stalkers have the same “psychopathology”, and there is some evidence to suggest there can be a typology of stalking."

Jackson has identified the following types of stalker. 

• Rejected stalker: arises from the breakdown of a relationship. They are usually a former sexual partner of the victim and this appears to be the biggest single typology.

• Resentful stalker: arises from a perceived mistreatment or humiliation, with the power over the victim itself seen as “settling the score”. They often present themselves as the victim.

• Intimacy-seeking stalker: arises from a lack of close relationships and intimacy — the victims become “fantasy” figures, and these desires can be the result of some severe mental health problems/psychosis (eg erotomanic delusion).

• Incompetent suitor: arises from loneliness but does not seek intimate relationships, merely short-term sexual relationships. There is occasional overlap with a mild learning disability or cognitive impairments on behalf of the stalker.

• Predatory stalker: arises in the context of deviant sexual practices and interest in the victim. The stalking can be gratifying and instrumental at the same time, becomes a way of gaining pleasure (eg voyeurism), and can also help provide information about the victim.

"Almost half of stalkers present themselves at their victim’s workplace, creating not only risks for the victims but for other colleagues who may interact with the stalker, as well as other members of the public who may be at the premises legitimately."