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  • Breadcrumb

    1. Home
    2. Crime, justice and the law
    3. Crimes

    Stalking Protection Orders

    If you are being stalked the police can apply for a Stalking Protection Order (SPO). A SPO allows police to get involved at an early stage of a stalking case, so they can try to stop stalking behaviours before they become more serious.

    When can police apply for a SPO

    The police can apply to the magistrates court for a SPO if it seems like

    • a person has carried out acts linked with stalking
    • a person poses a risk linked with stalking
    • there is a good reason to believe the SPO is needed to protect another person

    Making a SPO

    When a court makes a SPO, it lasts between two and five years. The court can make an interim order when immediate protection from risk is needed.  The order can also be changed, renewed or dismissed by the court.

    What does a SPO do

    A SPO can ban a person from going to certain places like the victim's home or any place a victim often visits.

    A SPO can also stop a person contacting the victim by other means, like telephone, post, email, text message, social media or from approaching the victim in person, either at all or within a set distance.

    If a SPO is given to someone

    If a person is given a SPO, they must tell the police their name or names and their home address, within a period of three days from the date when the order is served.

    Breaking a SPO

    If a person breaks the rules of a SPO they could face up to five years imprisonment or a fine or both.

    More useful links

    • Stalking
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    Crimes

    • Antisocial behaviour
    • Domestic abuse
    • Drugs and crime
    • Female genital mutilation
    • Film and music piracy
    • Gang crime
    • Gun crime
    • Hate crime
    • Knife crime and other offensive weapons
    • Modern slavery and human trafficking
    • Organised crime
    • Paying for sexual services
    • Rural crime
    • Sexual violence and abuse
    • Stalking
    • Stalking Protection Orders
    • Strangulation and suffocation
    • Up-skirting, down-blousing and cyber-flashing

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