What to do if you are beig stalked or crimially harassed
This brochure cotais iformatio that is iteded to help keep you safe from stalkig. You may choose to carry this brochure with you as a resource. If you do ot wish for others to see that you have iformatio about stalkig, this brochure ca be made to look like a otepad by removig the frot cover.
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Table of Cotets Stalkig/Crimial Harassmet....3 Plaig for Your Safety.............. 7 Cyberstalkig.......................12 Callig the Police... 19 The Legal System... 20 Crimial Court...............20 Civil Court..................21 Family Court.... 28 Summary of Court Orders of Protectio......................29 Maitoba Justice Victim Services Provicial toll-free umber: 1-866-484-2846 Ackowledgemets: Fudig provided by Departmet of Justice Caada 2
Stalkig/Crimial Harassmet What is stalkig or harassmet? Stalkig occurs whe a perso who has o legal reaso to cotact you, cotiues to bother you after you have said you wat to be left aloe. This repeated, uwated cotact ca make you afraid for your persoal safety. We call this behaviour stalkig ad it is agaist the law. I Caada, whe crimial charges are laid by the police for stalkig, the crime is kow as crimial harassmet. This booklet will help you uderstad stalkig ad fid ways to protect yourself. Do ot blame yourself if you are beig stalked YOU are ot causig it. Stalkig ca happe to ayoe. We use the term target, to refer to ayoe who is beig stalked. Targets are most ofte wome, but childre, teeagers ad me ca also be targets. Stalkig may iclude: followig you from place to place or followig your family or frieds to get iformatio about you 3
commuicatig directly or idirectly with you or your family or frieds to get iformatio about you watchig you i your home, workplace or ay other place threateig ad itimidatig behaviour or commets directed at you Stalkers sometimes also break other crimial laws, such as itimidatio, utterig threats, makig harassig phoe calls, trespassig ad mischief. It is importat for you to report these offeces to your local police. They will decide if ay crimial laws are beig broke, ad will lay crimial charges if appropriate. How do I kow if I m beig stalked? If you thik you are beig stalked, aswer these questios: Are you beig bothered repeatedly by this perso? Do you believe that the stalker has o itetio of stoppig? Have you told this perso i ay way that you do ot wat ay further cotact? Does the uwated activity iclude more tha oe kid of cotact? Are you worried that the behaviour is affectig your job, or your relatioship with others? 4
Have you cosidered movig or chagig your phoe umber or Iteret address? Have you tried to avoid this perso by chagig your daily routie ad askig family, frieds or co-workers ot to give out iformatio about you? Do you fear for your persoal safety? If you aswer yes to ay of these questios, you might be the target of a stalker. It is very importat that you immediately create a protectio pla for yourself ad use it. Do t igore the sigs of beig stalked. While most stalkers oly wat your attetio, you ca t predict how far a stalker will go. Some do become violet ad eve kill their targets. To protect yourself from a stalker call the police ad ask for help. Are there differet types of stalkers? Yes, just about ayoe ca be a stalker: your spouse, a perso you live with, someoe you dated, a cliet, a co-worker, someoe you met briefly, or someoe you have o relatioship with at all. 5
People who stalk their former parters are ofte very emotioally depedet o them. Because they have difficulty lettig go, they ofte decide that if they caot have the relatioship, the o oe else will. These stalkers are ofte jealous ad their ager ca lead to violece ad eve murder. Not all stalkers have bee i a relatioship with their targets or eve kow them. Some stalkers have a mistake belief that there is a relatioship whe there is oe. Some believe that if they just keep tryig, their targets will wat to be with them. Others do t wat to start a relatioship, but seek out a particular perso to scare ad sometimes hurt. Oe commo lik betwee the differet kids of stalkers is that tellig them to stop geerally does ot work. A stalker may promise to leave you aloe if you ll just go somewhere with him/her to talk but do NOT go aywhere with a stalker. 6
Plaig for Your Safety Should I talk to or go aywhere with a stalker? Do t have coversatios with a stalker, it oly ecourages him/her. A stalker s offer to discuss his/her feeligs or reasos for stalkig ca easily tur violet if he/she realizes you do t wat to have ay cotact. Stalkers are ofte uable to judge or cotrol their ow emotios. How ca I protect myself from a stalker? There are may ways to icrease your level of safety, whether you are dealig with a stalkig/harassmet situatio or edig a abusive relatioship. Here are some thigs to cosider: Call the police at 911 if you are i immediate dager. If you do t have 911 i your area, call your local police. Tell the operator that you believe you are i dager ad are afraid for your safety. Also tell the operator if you have ay court orders of protectio. Do t try to hadle this problem o your ow. Fid out what help there is i your commuity. For a list of commuity resources go to: www.gov.mb.ca/justice/victims/pdf/dviu_ resource_card.pdf or call 1-866-484-2846 for more iformatio. 7
Set up a protectio pla ad use it. You eed to thik of ways you ca keep yourself safe at places where the stalker might try to bother you (ex: walkig o the street, goig to work or ay activity where you are ope to harm or harassmet). Discuss protectio plaig with your childre ad ay other family members who may be at risk. Tell your childre exactly who they ca go to ad who they ca trust if they are i dager or eed help. Fid a good cousellor or a trusted perso to talk to. Beig stalked ca be very frighteig ad cofusig. Talkig about it ca help keep you metally healthy ad emotioally strog. Prepare ad practise evacuatig your home, i case it becomes ecessary. Program emergecy umbers ito all your phoes, especially cellphoes, or tape the umbers to all your phoes. Get a court order of protectio (previously kow as a restraiig order) that states the stalker/offeder caot follow you, make cotact with you, or otherwise cotiue the stalkig behaviour. Call the police if the stalker cotiues to bother you oce you have a court order. 8
Tell people you trust family, frieds, eighbours, co-workers, ladlords about your situatio. If possible, give these people a photo or descriptio of the stalker, so they ca tell you if they see him/her hagig aroud. If you are beig followed, eve i traffic, get someoe s attetio. Remai as calm as possible, but go where there are other people, such as a earby busiess, ad call 911 or the local police. Chage your daily routies ad travel routes as much as possible. Leave for work at differet times. Shop for groceries o differet days ad at differet stores. Develop a secret code with people you speak to regularly o the phoe. You ca use the code as a sigal you re i dager, without alertig the stalker. For example, I crave blueberry ice cream could be the sigal that you are i dager ad the perso you re talkig to should cotact police at oce. Keep a pe ad paper with you ad by the phoe. Write dow the times, dates ad what was said durig uwated cotact. Get the ames ad umbers of ay witesses. 9
If the caller is someoe you do t kow, write dow ay idetifyig iformatio (ex: male or female, youg or older). Note ay backgroud oise that might be a clue about where the call is beig made from. If your phoe service icludes call tracig, hag up the phoe ad press *57 to activate it. Also report all the calls to the police. Never throw out or destroy aythig the stalker has set you. Cards, e-mails, letters, flowers, gifts, etc. might be helpful as evidece if the police become ivolved. Take pictures of ay property damage or vadalism. Save the evidece ad collect ames of witesses, but do ot take ay persoal risks to get evidece i your case. Whe you re outdoors, stay i well-lit areas where other people are aroud. Avoid walkig aloe. Keep your car doors locked at all times. Look i ad aroud your vehicle before you get i it. Trust your isticts; pay attetio to your feeligs of fear ad respod to them by gettig help immediately. 10
Stalkig may happe i perso, through family or frieds, over the phoe, by mail, fax or e-mail. A perso ca also be stalked usig techology such as cellphoes, global positioig systems (GPS), cameras ad other iterceptig devices. 11
Cyberstalkig Cyberstalkig ivolves the use of iformatio ad commuicatio techology, particularly the Iteret, by a idividual or group to harass, itimidate ad cause you fear. Commo abusive behaviours that occur with the use of techology iclude moitorig commuicatios with others, trasmittig threats, makig false accusatios, idetity theft, damage to persoal data or equipmet, solicitatio of miors for sexual purposes ad other forms of aggressio. The Iteret ca be used i may ways to fid out iformatio about you ad to harass you. The most commo methods to watch out for iclude: E-mail: Whe a abuser has access to your e-mail accout, he/she may be able to read your icomig ad outgoig mail. Ayoe who has your e-mail address ca sed you uwated mail. Istat messagig (IM): This allows people to sed messages back ad forth olie, like havig a coversatio over the computer. IM programs allow people to share images, souds, video liks ad files. 12
IM ca be used to harass a perso with frequet, uwated messages. Text messagig: This allows people to sed writte messages o cellphoes. Textig is ofte used to harass a perso by sedig frequet uwated messages that ofte have a threateig or itimidatig toe. Blogs: Persoal blogs ofte iclude iformatio that might let stalkers kow about your emotioal state, what you do with your time ad who your frieds ad associates are. This iformatio may give away more iformatio tha is safe to share. Social etworkig: Whe you put your profile o a social etwork (ex: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter), o a olie datig service or o ay site that shares iformatio about the users, it is accessible to ayoe usig a computer. Oce your iformatio is i the etwork, it may cotiue to be available to ayoe, eve stragers, eve though you remove it from the site address. Spyware: Spyware is a computer software program or hardware device that lets uauthorized people (such as a stalker) secretly moitor ad gather iformatio about your computer use. There are may types of computer software programs ad hardware 13
devices that ca be istalled o your computer without your kowledge, ad the perso istallig them does t eve eed to have physical access to your computer. Spyware ca keep track of every keystroke you type, every software applicatio you use, every website you visit, every chat or istat message you sed, every documet you ope ad everythig you prit. Some spyware allows a outsider to freeze, shutdow or restart your computer. Phoe: Aswerig machie messages ca be itercepted ad erased, eve remotely, whe the stalker has or is able to guess the password. Fax: Iformatio posted o the top of faxed documets, such as the area code, fax umber ad the ame of the agecy you are faxig from ca be used to fid out where you are. Global Positioig Systems (GPS): A GPS ca be used to moitor your whereabouts. Newer model cellphoes ofte have a GPS that ca be traced to determie your locatio. GPS Data i Photographs: GPS data i photographs is kow as Geotaggig. A Geotagged photograph is a photo that icludes geographical 14
locatio data obtaied from a GPS icluded with a camera or Smartphoe. Whe Geotagged photos are uploaded olie, the photo ca be placed oto a map to view the locatio where the photo was take. Safety tips if you are beig cyberstalked Choose a geder-eutral userame ad mail address whe commuicatig olie. Do ot use passwords that are easy to guess. Never use idetifyig iformatio such as your ame, address, birthdates i your password. Do ot use pet ames. Use a combiatio of letters, symbols ad umbers to make it impossible to guess your password. Never share your password with ayoe icludig people who claim to be from your Iteret service provider, bak customer service, or other olie service. Use a free e-mail accout such as Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), YAHOO! (www.yahoo. com), or Gmail (www.google.ca), for ewsgroups, social etwork sites, mailig lists, chat rooms, IMs, e-mails from stragers, message boards, fillig out forms ad other olie activities. 15
Do ot give your primary e-mail address to ayoe you do ot directly kow or trust. Tell ayoe who does have your address ot to iclude it i group e-mails. Limit or avoid the use of social etworkig sites such as Facebook or MySpace. If you do use them, do ot put idetifyig iformatio i your profile. Use the security features to allow oly kow frieds ad associates access to your profile. Tell your frieds that you do ot wat them postig ay pictures or iformatio about you o their social etworkig sites. Oly use computers that you trust are secure ad make sure that all operatig system ad applicatio security updates have bee applied. Make sure you have ati-virus ad ati-spyware software ruig ad that it s curret. For tips o protectig your computer, your family ad yourself olie see: www.microsoft.com/protect/default.aspx Trust your isticts. If you suspect a abusive perso kows too much, it is possible that your phoe, computer or e-mail have bee tampered with ad your activity may be moitored. 16
Disable the GPS fuctioality o your camera or Smartphoe. Pla for safety. Stalkig ca be very dagerous, eve if it is over the Iteret ad the stalker is ot tryig to cotact you directly. Talk to someoe who ca help you create a pla to protect yourself. Save ad documet everythig. Eve if you are usure about callig the police, it is a good idea to keep a log (write dow iformatio) about all icidets. Write dow the time, date ad place of each cotact. If you get harassig messages by e-mail, do ot delete them. Save them ad prit off a copy of each message for your records as well. If you make a report to police or if you decide to apply for a emergecy Protectio Order, the prited messages ca be used as evidece. Save all threateig or harassig text messages or voice messages received o your cellphoe. Coversatios o cordless phoes ca sometimes be picked up by radio scaers that allow eavesdroppig. Wheever possible, avoid usig cordless phoes for sesitive coversatios. It is illegal i Caada to itercept your phoe calls without your 17
permissio. If you kow this is happeig, report it to the police. If you thik the perso stalkig you may have access to your e-mail, start aother private accout that icludes o persoally idetifiable iformatio i your user ame. Make sure you use a secure password. Do ot use this address for ay social etwork cotacts such as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. Fid out how accessible you are o the Iteret by searchig for your ame o a search egie such as Google or Yahoo. It is helpful to kow what iformatio about you is available o the Iteret. Major search egies such as Google ad Yahoo may have liks to your cotact iformatio. Report computer harassmet to your Iteret service provider as well as the Iteret service provider of the perso harassig you. 18
Callig the Police What will happe if I call the police ad they lay crimial charges agaist the perso who has bee stalkig or harassig me? Oce the police have eough evidece agaist a perso, they will lay crimial charges ad a judge or the police will decide if the accused should be released. Regardless of how or whe the accused is released, he/she will be ordered ot to commuicate with you or go ear where you live, work, go to school or worship. Failure to follow these coditios will result i further crimial charges for the accused. 19
The Legal System I Maitoba, there are three differet kids of courts that offer help to victims of stalkig/crimial harassmet: Crimial Court Civil Court Family Court Crimial Court Crimial court is maily cocered with decidig whether a perso has or has ot committed a crime. What happes to my case i crimial court? I Maitoba, whe crimial charges are laid for crimial harassmet or domestic violece, the police are resposible for layig the charges. A Crow attorey is a lawyer who works for the govermet ad prosecutes the case. If a accused is foud guilty or pleads guilty to the offece, the judge will impose a setece. A Maitoba Justice Victim Services worker will cotact you whe crimial harassmet ad/or domestic violece charges are laid, to offer iformatio ad support. Uder The Victims Bill of Rights, ayoe who is a victim of crimial harassmet ca register for certai rights, such as otificatio of court dates ad developmets i the case. 20
Civil Court Are there other ways to get a court order of protectio? Yes. There are a umber of optios available to you through the civil court icludig Protectio Orders, Prevetio Orders ad Peace Bods. What is a Protectio Order? Protectio Orders are grated o a urget basis by a judicial justice of the peace, without otice to the respodet (the perso stalkig, harassig or abusig you). Protectio Orders state that certai coditios apply to the behaviour of the respodet, icludig the coditio that the respodet caot have ay cotact with you. I Maitoba, there are two kids of Protectio Orders. Protectio Orders grated uder The Domestic Violece ad Stalkig Act allow for protective coditios for victims of domestic violece ad/or stalkig. The iformatio i this booklet is about Protectio Orders grated uder this act. The secod kid of Protectio Order grated uder The Sexual Exploitatio ad Huma Traffickig Act allows protective coditios for people victimized by sexual exploitatio ad huma traffickig. If you are iterested i more iformatio about this type 21
of Protectio Order go to: http://www.gov.mb.ca/ justice/csehtact.html. The perso applyig for a Protectio Order must give evidece about the stalkig or domestic violece. You will have to complete the writte applicatio form, ad the you will have to aswer questios from the judicial justice of the peace, uder oath, to explai what has bee happeig to you. A adult ca apply for a Protectio Order o behalf of a child ad a court-appoited committee or substitute decisio-maker ca apply o behalf of a vulerable perso. Protectio Orders ca iclude all or some of these seve coditios that are eeded for your immediate safety: prohibit the respodet from followig you or ay other specified people prohibit the respodet from directly or idirectly cotactig or commuicatig with you or ay other specified people prohibit the respodet from goig to your house or workplace, or to the house or workplace of ay other specified people provide a police officer s help to remove the respodet from your home if ecessary give you or the respodet temporary possessio of ecessary persoal property 22
provide a police officer s help to esure ay persoal property is removed from the home i a orderly maer require the respodet to tur over weapos ad authorize the police to search for ad seize weapos Protectio Order coditios imposed uder The Domestic Violece ad Stalkig Act as of October 17, 2012, may iclude a exceptio that allow a respodet to atted court or other court-related proceedigs whe a protected perso is preset. Specific coditios related to this exceptio would apply, such as the respodet would have to stay at least two metres away from the protected perso ad ot commuicate with her/him uless the judge or mediator is preset ad approves commuicatio. Although Protectio Orders are made without otice to the respodet (the perso who is stalkig, harassig or abusig you), oce it is grated, the court arrages for a sheriff or a police officer to give him/ her a copy of the order. A respodet ca apply withi 20 days after beig served with the order, to have it set aside by the Court of Quee s Bech. I certai circumstaces the respodet ca apply for a extesio of time. 23
What is a Prevetio Order? Prevetio Orders are made by a Court of Quee s Bech judge ad ca iclude the same coditios as a Protectio Order. They ca also: allow oly you to live i the family home give temporary possessio of specified persoal property, such as household goods, furiture or vehicles seize items used by the respodet to stalk or harm you recommed or require the respodet to get cousellig prohibit the respodet from damagig or dealig with property i which you have a iterest order the respodet to pay compesatio to you for ay moey lost because of the stalkig or violece (ex: expeses for cousellig, security measures, movig or lost icome) order that the respodet s driver s licece be suspeded if a vehicle has bee used i stalkig or domestic violece Who ca apply for a Protectio Order or a Prevetio Order? Uder The Domestic Violece ad Stalkig Act ayoe who is a victim of family violece or stalkig 24
ca apply for oe of these orders. The orders ca apply to ay family relatioship icludig: people who live together or have lived together i a family, spousal or itimate relatioship people who have, or had, a family relatioship eve if they have ot lived together people who have, or had, a datig relatioship people who have a child together eve if they have t lived together Uder this act, if you are beig stalked you do ot have to have ay relatioship with the stalker to apply for a Protectio Order. Ca a perso still apply for a order if there has t bee ay physical violece? Yes. Ofte there is o direct physical violece i stalkig, harassmet or domestic abuse. The victim is ofte afraid because of threats of violece, ad/or the fear that the threateig, upsettig, upredictable behaviour will ever stop. You do t eed to wait util you are hurt before seekig a Protectio Order or a Prevetio Order. Do I eed a lawyer to apply for a order? You do t eed a lawyer to apply for a Protectio Order. 25
Normally you ca get a Protectio Order by goig to the earest court office. People who ca t get to a court office (icludig those who live i remote or rural areas), ca apply by phoe or fax, but oly with the help of a police officer, lawyer or a Protectio Order desigate (POD). PODs are people who work i shelters ad other agecies who have bee traied to help with Protectio Order applicatios. For more iformatio about PODs, cotact Maitoba Justice Victim Services, toll free, at 1-866-484-2846. With Prevetio Orders, it is best to hire a lawyer. Legal papers must be filed ad you must appear i the Court of Quee s Bech. A lawyer kows the best way to deal with the paperwork ad the court process. How much does it cost to get a court order? There is o charge to apply for a Protectio Order. There is a fee for filig the papers whe applyig for a Prevetio Order. If you get a Protectio Order or a Prevetio Order ad later decide you o loger wat it, there is a fee for filig the papers i the Court of Quee s Bech to have it revoked. 26
How log do these court orders last? Protectio Orders that have bee grated sice October 31, 2005, have a expiry date usually three years. Prevetio Orders remai i effect util they are set aside or chaged by a later court order. Are these court orders valid outside of Maitoba? Protectio Orders ad Prevetio Orders are i effect oce they are grated. Stalkers or abusers must obey the order oce they are aware of it (usually, after they are served with a copy), eve if they are ot i Maitoba. Whether or ot a stalker or abuser ca be crimially charged with disobeyig the order, may still deped o their actios. If you have questios about whether the order you have from Maitoba or ay Caadia provice is i effect, cotact Maitoba Justice Victim Services, toll free, at 1-866-484-2846. What is the tort of stalkig? The tort makes it possible for a perso to sue a stalker. If you are cosiderig a lawsuit agaist someoe who has stalked you, talk with a lawyer first. 27
What is a Peace Bod? If you fear that someoe may hurt you or your childre, or damage your property, you may apply for a Peace Bod i a provicial court office. You do ot eed to have lived with the perso or have had a relatioship. There is o fee to apply for Peace Bods, but they are ot recommeded if you eed immediate protectio they ca take several moths to get. Family Court Family courts deal with the rights ad duties of people i family relatioships. Most commoly, they deal with rights ad duties whe a family relatioship breaks dow, such as i a separatio or divorce. Ca I get a court order of protectio whe I apply for a separatio or divorce? Yes. Uder The Family Maiteace Act, a perso who is married to, or has lived with someoe ca apply for a order statig that commuicatio ad cotact betwee the two people is prohibited or restricted. Usually, a perso seekig a order uder The Family Maiteace Act would also be applyig to the family court for other orders (ex: child custody, access to childre, child support, spousal support, divisio of property or divorce). 28
Summary of Court Orders of Protectio Recogizace or udertakig: issued as part of a release coditio whe crimial charges are laid by police ca prohibit cotact with you ad ot allow the accused to go to your home, school, workplace, or place of worship other crimial charges laid if accused does ot keep the coditios effective util the court deals with the crimial charges o cost to you Probatio Order: imposed whe the accused is foud guilty or pleads guilty to crimial charges ca prohibit cotact with you ad ot allow the offeder to go to your home, school, workplace or place of worship effective for the time of the probatioary period o cost to you Protectio Order: for emergecy situatios applicatio i-perso to the justice of the 29
peace or over the phoe with the help of a police officer, lawyer or a Protectio Order Desigate you or the perso makig the applicatio o your behalf, must provide iformatio about stalkig or domestic violece (ex: explaatio of why you are afraid of the stalker or abuser; why you believe the stalkig or abuse will cotiue; what makes the situatio a emergecy) ca iclude as may of the seve Protectio Order coditios as eeded for your safety the respodet has 20 days after beig served to apply to have the order set aside effective for at least three years o cost to you Prevetio Order: lawyer usually eeded to file legal papers ad represet your iterests at a Court of Quee s Bech hearig a variety of coditios icludig restrictio of cotact ad commuicatio with you; temporary possessio of items such as furiture; compesatio for moetary losses i effect uless chaged or revoked by aother court order fees for lawyer ad court filigs 30
Peace Bod: must reasoably fear persoal ijury or damage to your property ca iclude coditios prohibitig cotact with you or beig aywhere ear your address must go to a court hearig ad may have to give evidece before a judge effective for oe year o cost to you Family Court orders best to hire a lawyer for the family court process ca prohibit or restrict cotact or commuicatio betwee spouses/parters i effect uless chaged or revoked by aother court order fees for lawyers ad court filigs NOTE: If you caot afford a lawyer you may be eligible for Legal Aid Maitoba. I Wiipeg call 204-985-8500, or outside of Wiipeg call toll-free at 1-800-261-2960 for iformatio. 31
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MANITOBA JUSTICE VICTIM SERVICES 204-945-6851 1-866-484-2846 (provicial toll-free umber) This lie is available Moday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.