I can be a little smug perhaps, since I am not the target of such threats. A woman I know–I’ll call her Adelaide–has been making threats on the phone to her mother, whom I advised simply to contact the local police and let them handle it.
Any advice on this matter from Dopers, please? Thanks very much.
- Call the police. Fill out a report with them.
- Call the phone company. Depending on the co., there are several options available. Use them. Record the calls if possible and write down the time of call,duration etc. If you have caller ID, use it and don’t erase it.
- Don’t dismiss it or take it lightly. If you are going to pursue this, do it all the way. iIt will help get results from the authorities.
Thanks, Mike; from what the mother–who has certainly been around–told me that first day I sense that is exactly what she has in mind. 
Do what MikeG suggests.
Also, if possible, get an answering machine that can record your conversations as well as messages, I had one and the cost is pretty much the same as a regular answering machine. It always helps to have physical evidence of the threats. In most places, it is also legal to tape phone conversations without a warrant as long as one of the parties is aware of the taping. I used to tap phones for the Air Force, so I’m about 95% positive on this.
Thanks, guys; I live in California and my customer (Adelaide’s mother) wanted to know if the laws of the Golden State (cf. the Linda Tripp situation) might restrict this in any way.
All the better if any of the Teeming California Millions happens to be a lawyer, judge, or law-enforcement officer, or a telephone-company person with expertise in this matter. Thanks very much.
D_M: As has already been said, first call police and fill out a report. Then get a phone “trap” put on the line. Do everything the phone company says. It WILL work. I’ve had to do it. (A number of years ago)
One comment that Crunchy Frog made:
I don’t think that this is really true “in most places.” It USED to be, but states have been changing the law. Illinois, for example, used to allow it, but now they don’t. Don’t forget that this is how Monica’s pal (whatshername, the big blonde chick) got in trouble – for taping phone calls about Monica’s trysts with the pres. (I think charges ended up getting dropped, but for reasons other than this.)
I don’t know what the laws are in California. Sorry.
Without being an authority on the subject, I am fairly certain California law requires that recording a phone conversation includes one of two things;[list=1]
[li]That the recording of the conversation is announced at the beginning of the telephone call and that both parties verbally assent to this being done at that time.[/li]
A short tone burst is generated every five seconds that is audible to both parties during the entire length of the recorded conversation.
Getting a trap put on the phone would take forever in California. You already know who’s doing it & what they are saying (Adelaide–has been making threats) so the big question is, why is she talking to Adelaide? Why not hang up the phone when getting a call from her or get caller ID?
Otherwise, you can try one of the local Violence Assistance centers.
Still, it doesn’t make sense as to why you know about this & why the woman keeps taking calls from her daughter.
What MikeG said.
I had a stalker-type situation years ago. One thing the phone company did for me was block calls from the guy’s number. When he called from his house, he would get a message saying basically that the party he had called was not accepting calls from his phone, and not to call again. That worked.
It may be illegal to tape record someone, but who’s going to press charges? The police? Nope. The daughter whose voice is on the phone threatening her mother? Doubt it, because of course, it’s also illegal to threaten someone.
I’d tape record it and figure out if it’s legal later. Besides if, God forbid, Adelaide plans on actually harming her mother, knowing that her mother has evidence against her may prevent her from following through. So I’d have Adelaide’s mother play the tape back for her daughter to hear, then give it to someone for safekeeping.
handy said:
Why? I know I don’t live in California, but it took no time at all here – and this was 7 or so years ago. I would imagine that with caller ID technology, it should be even easier (and quicker) now.
PunditLisa, as far as who would press charges? You never know. But even if no charges are pressed, an illegal act could hurt any case against the person who is doing it.
The phone company is the first place to go. They know the law in your state and what can be done. There should be a phone number in the front of your phone book somewhere.
There may be restrictions, though. In NY, the person has to call you at least three times for the phone company to get involved.
Most likely, they’ll use some sort of caller ID to try to find the caller and turn the information over to the police.
I don’t live in CA, and laws mutate so fast I wouldn’t swear to what applies where I live, but:
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Advise the phone company. Note down the time and date of call, and name of contact. Even if they don’t act on it, it’s documentation.
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Call the police! Threats are threats. Maybe they can’t act right away; they’re more constricted by laws than anyone. But get the complaint on record and let them start working on it. Insist–politely, but insist.
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Call the FCC, State Attorney General, local congressman, whomever. (Date, time, contact, etc.) Sure, most probably don’t have jurisdiction and/or can’t do much. But it builds documentation, and that can make the difference.
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Of course log times of calls, etc., caller ID as possible. I’d suggest avoiding any taping. It’s the kind of proof that can turn around bite ya in the ass. Put the onus on experts! Their lawyers are paid to figure this stuff out.
You’re a good friend to get involved, dougie-monty. Don’t let this crap slide. Aggression and antisocial behavior may start “removed” but doesn’t always stay that way. Just my opinion, but decking a bully, early and hard, can save a world of hurt. Urge your friend to make the phone calls, share the list, and follow up with your own calls. May take time, but it’s the place to start.
Never could stand a bully,
Veb
Different strategies, for different problems, depending on how serious the problem is. If you want, the following services are available from your phone company, in addition to reporting to police. (Always do that, for threats, however seriously you take them.)
Caller ID, and blocking of any ID masked number. Off premises answer call, to receive any call you choose to allow to ring. (No one can just take the tape away, if it is recorded off premises) Conversation recorded by an answering machine is presumed to be made with consent in most jurisdictions.
If the calling is just to annoy, then you want the idiot to get bored without using a lot of effort on your part. Here is a real cool trick, which uses two answering machines. One for use when you are actually not home, it’s ordinary. The other one, you set up for annoying the idiot. First you call a friend, who agrees not to answer, and let the phone ring for as long as your answering machine will record the sound of the ringing. (This is your “message” for the incoming caller.) Set the machine to the largest number of rings, and then let people call, using that machine when you are at home. If you see a number you don’t want to talk to, you just let the machine answer and it plays two or three minutes of a phone ringing. That bores even the most determined of telemorons.
Tris.
“Most likely, they’ll use some sort of caller ID to try to find the caller and turn the information over
to the police.”
They already know who is doing these threats.
What’s the big idea about recording calls? Answering machines record them all the time. They play them in Judge Judy’s California courtroom all the time, completely legal, if I may add. That’s not just the message thats incoming but the complete call between two people.
Frankly I think that stupid law about recording audio goes out the window when people are being nasty on the phone.
Some years back, a former co-worker of my mother’s was fired, and she blamed my mother for it. Not only did my parents start getting harrassing phone calls, but this woman and her friends discovered my phone number and began calling me incessantly, too.
We checked with both the NYC police and the phone company. Despite the fact that we knew who was calling already, and that the situation was rather tense, we were told that the phone company would not proceed without a log of the time of each phone call, to establish the fact that the calls were indeed meant to harrass us; IIRC, we needed at least a 3-day log just for the phone company to investigate. Moreover, the police needed the phone company’s records before they would investigate our complaint.
California may be somewhat more responsive to these situations, but I would suggest a written log of the phone calls and the daughter’s statements, just in case there is something problematic about taping the phone calls. A detailed log should be a sufficient evidence that something is seriously amiss.
I am pleased to say that “Adelaide” has quit making threats. The matter is complicated by the fact that Adelaide is practically a welfare case–and as far as I can tell, she ought to be in a mental institution. 
She is in total economic thrall to her mother, who pays the daughter’s space rent (she lives in a mobile home, about eight miles away from me, and has no car), utilities, and food bills. The mother–and I have accompanied her for her safety–has gone to local Social Services offices trying to get the daughter (Adelaide) some kind of public assistance. Goodness knows Adelaide needs serious psychiatric treatment.
The mother has automatic answering-machine recording, as a service provided by Pacific Bell. (So does Adelaide, for that matter.) My guess is that Adelaide has backed off, realizing that her mother has recorded the calls.