Stalking behavior can take many forms including:

• Making threats against someone, or that person’s family or friends
• Non-consensual communication, such as repeated phone calls, emails, text messages, and unwanted gifts
• Repeated physical or visual closeness, like waiting for someone to arrive at certain locations, following someone, or watching someone from a distance
• Any other behavior used to contact, harass, track, or threaten someone

 

Some uses of technology to stalk include:

• Persistently sending unwanted communication through the internet, such as spamming someone’s email inbox or social media platform
• Posting threatening or personal information about someone on public internet forums
• Video-voyeurism, or installing video cameras that give the stalker access to someone’s personal life
• Using GPS or other software tracking systems to monitor someone without their knowledge or consent
• Using someone’s computer and/or spyware to track their computer activity

If you think you are being stalked, please know you are right to be concerned. Stalking may escalate in behavior. Consider the following tips to increase your safety and effectively report the crime.

• Try to avoid the person stalking you. This can be difficult at times, especially if the person stalking you is close to you or your family.
• If you are being stalked through communication technology, like email or text messaging, make it clear that you wish to stop contact. Once you’ve made it clear, do not respond to further communication.
• Keep any evidence received from the stalker such as text messages, voicemails, letters, packages, emails, etc., but do not respond. You can do this by taking screenshots of conversations or even printing out email exchanges.
• Inform family, friends, supervisors, and co-workers of the situation.
• If you have children, create a code word that lets them know they need to leave the house or call the police.
• Consider reporting the stalking to local law enforcement.
• Keeping an accurate journal or log of all incidents connected to the stalking.
• Become familiar with computer safety and ways to stay safe online.