Stalking, Intimate Partner Abuse, and the Police

Stalking and intimate partner abuse (IPA) are two criminal problems that often come to the attention of the police. While there are many similarities between intimate partner stalking and IPA and many refer to intimate partner stalking as a variant of IPA (Logan, Leukefeld, and Walker, 2000), there may be differences in these cases, particularly at the point that they come to the attention of the police. These differences may have important implications for how the police respond and/or are able to respond. Using a sample of 1440 domestic disturbance reports from a large police department in the western United States, this study explores the differences and similarities between these two populations including a discussion of how these problems impact arrest with an end goal of aiding police in the appropriate response to these two criminal problems and adding to the literature on stalking in the context of intimate partner abuse and intimate partner abuse. Ultimately, both differences and similarities were found. Implications are discussed.