Stalking or harassment
Major investigation and public protection — Authorised Professional Practice
Summary
The College of Policing's page on stalking and harassment outlines the challenges police officers face when responding to such cases. It emphasizes the necessity for a proportionate response focused on cases where victims may be threatened by perpetrators. The page provides guidance to responders, including first responders and investigators, to aid them in making effective, risk-based decisions. Since the law does not distinctly define stalking, officers are encouraged to differentiate between stalking and harassment as best as possible. Various resources, including advice documents and statutory guidance on Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs), are made available to assist officers in their investigations and responses.
Key principles
- 1Focus resources on high-risk cases
- 2Differentiate between stalking and harassment
- 3Utilize guidance from specialist partners
- 4Utilize risk-based decision-making
- 5Use statutory guidance for stalking protection orders
Defined terms
- Stalking protection orders (SPOs)
- A legal mechanism designed to prevent future stalking behavior by imposing conditions on the perpetrator.
Full guidance
Responding to public protection and major investigation issues, for example, child abuse, knife crime and sexual offences
This page is from APP, the official source of professional practice for policing.
The police service receives many calls relating to stalking or harassment, cases are diverse, some can be complex to deal with and there are some where the perpetrators pose a real threat of harm to victims. There is a need to develop a proportionate response, focusing resources on those cases that require them.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between stalking or harassment (the law does not define stalking) to determine the appropriate response. This advice seeks to support first responders to make effective, risk-based decisions.
No framework or assessment approach is going to be 100% accurate but this advice, developed in consultation with our specialist partners and police practitioners, is intended to help responders to investigate effectively, identify and understand risk and respond appropriately.
Stalking protection orders (SPOs)
The documents listed above override any advice contained within the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (2009) Practice Advice on Investigating Stalking and Harassment and College of Policing (2013) Briefing Note for Amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 relating to the initial police response.
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Read the full APP guidanceSource: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.