Celebrity stalker prosecutor shares her insight with Edmonton law enforcement

An American celebrity stalking prosecutor paid a visit to Edmonton on Wednesday to talk about how more stalking cases can be won in Canada.

Rhonda Saunders, whose list of clientele includes Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Steven Spielberg, spoke at a workshop hosted by Alberta’s Integrated Threat and Risk Assessment Centre (I-TRAC). The event was designed to educate local law enforcement on the various types of stalkers and how to deal with them.

Saunders says she lectures law enforcement on stalking because she believes it is "a crime of mental terrorism that destroys the victims from inside.”

“My part is to teach and show these are important crimes. Please pay attention to them. Do your best and you might be saving somebody’s life,” she says.

Her goal is to help other prosecutors better understand the laws surrounding stalking.

Val Campbell, the Director of I-TRAC says Saunders’ expertise is greatly appreciated. “Canada has had legislation since Aug. 1, 1993 but we have relatively no training for police or prosecutors at all.”

Currently, stalking arrests often require many years of painstaking investigation, so police in Edmonton welcome any advice.

And even though the justice system in the United States is different, Campbell believes the problems police encounter when trying to secure stalking convictions are similar.

Janine Fraser is all too aware of the complications involved in convicting stalkers. Fraser works at WIN House, an organization of women’s shelters in Edmonton, where she frequently hears from women who are being stalked.

She says stalking isn’t always a case of being followed; it can also include threatening messages.

Fraser says that because stalking is such an abnormal situation, most people don’t know what to do if it happens to them.

“The first thing of course is always talk to law enforcement,” she says. After that, she says the biggest thing is to document everything. "If you feel that inner voice telling you that something doesn’t feel right, it’s not right.”

However, even with documentation, Fraser knows it is difficult to lay charges against the stalker – especially in domestic situations where the perpetrator is an intimate partner, a husband or a common law spouse.

“What may be considered stalking from our point of view or what's happening with the victim doesn't necessarily correlate with a criminal charge - unfortunately.”

With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News