It breaks your heart to hear these stories.
I know of a case where a woman who lived in a big city wanted to get a restraining order against a very problematic ex boyfriend.

But she had managed to escape him and he didn't know where she lived. The catch was, to get a restraining order, he had to be informed where she lived, because otherwise he couldn't be expected to stay away from the area.

Even though it was a block with a number of large apartment buildings, she still couldn't bear the thought of him knowing her address. So she didn't file it. But that significantly limits her legal options.

The solution is a community witness program. Stalkers are secretive. Their sense of power is based on making the stalked person afraid. Their actions need the community's "light" shown on them. 

The frustrating and angering limitations of courts and police is that the crime that the woman is trying to avoid can not be recognized judicially or criminally until a crime has been done. In other words, there virtually is no protection from the escalating probability of the crime. A means that possibly could come closest to preventing the probability, be legal, inexpensive (not involving lawyers) and I believe effective would be for the stalked person (usually a woman or her children) to call her community witness alliance which would work along the idea of a volunteer fire department.

This witness alliance would be comprised of willing friends, neighbors, relatives and hopefully supportive people from her community associated with church, bowling league, people connected to her county's social service department or referals from them. These people would be sought out by the woman to act as a witness to the stalking behaviour of the stalker and agree to be "on call" night or day to respond immediately en masse to show up where the woman is and form a cirlce around her, beside her and in her house, bringing cameras, tape recorders, cell phones, flash lights (no weapons though) and the ever intimidating note pad. This group would know of one another and share telephone numbers. When the woman called just one of them for help that person would (by the terms of their promise to help already agreed upon when the collective was formed for her protection) call the others in the group to go to her aid en mass and immediately. The protocols could be worked out before hand for the situation. I believe this would stop any violence. It would provide witnesses to the stalker's initiation of intent, it would create documentation and its effectiveness wouldn not be confounded by the usual police department's reluctance, delay and indifference. As witnesses they could be called to give witness in court.

Local community, social organizations (from churches to AA groups) could initiate sign up sheets and distribute flyers sponsoring the availability, purpose and means of these groups. I think it would work. I am pretty sure that most of the people I've gotten to know on the THINQon web site would volunteer for this purpose. Eventually the knowledge of having such community response team organizations in the community would possibly prevent the would be stalkers from even attempting that kind of abuse.