If you feel in immediate danger at any time always call 999.
If you are very frightened, but not in immediate danger contact
Cheshire Police on 0845 458 0000. Police will arrange a convenient
time to meet you and take relevant details in order to give more
specific safety advice to you. The officer should complete a
Stalking and Harassment Risk Identification Checklist with you, but
it will help if you can consider the risks yourself by
completing this form.
Hand the completed form to the police officer. If appropriate, a
crime report will be made and the matter fully investigated. This
might mean taking a statement from you and interviewing the person
suspected of stalking you.
The police officer will give you a copy of the harassment and
anti-social behaviour diary. Complete it while incidents are fresh
in your mind.
Other important measures you can take are to gather evidence and
always document everything relating to the harassment. Keep texts,
e-mails, letters, notes, faxes, gifts and packages. If the gifts
are perishable, bag them up and place them in the freezer. Record
the date and time they were sent or left.
Record anything that is happening to you on a mobile phone,
camera, camcorder or dictaphone. Record conversations or threats
made when the stalker contacts you.
Record telephone calls and also make a note of these in your
diary, detailing what was said. You could also consider contacting
your telephone company to see what action they can take against
malicious callers or register with Telephone Preference Service to
be removed from direct marketing lists.
Make sure people around you are aware of the situation. Keep
family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues informed. Ask them
to record sightings and, if they are approached by your stalker,
make a note of what is said to them by the stalker.
If you think you are being followed, always carry a mobile phone
and try to vary your routine to make it more difficult for a
stalker to build up a pattern of your behaviour.
Remember, in stalking cases, you must trust your instinct. If
something feels wrong, then there is a problem. Never confront your
stalker or engage or respond to their communication in any way. As
frustrating as this may be, it is important that you do not give
any ‘feedback’ to your stalker as this can feed any infatuation or
obsession and put you at greater risk.