Stalked or Harassed in NSW? You Don't Need Police Permission

Transcript

Someone is stalking you, harassing you, or threatening you in New South Wales, a neighbor, a former friend, a colleague, a stranger. It is frightening, and it wears you down. But the law can put a fence between you and them, and here is the part most people never learn. You do not need police permission to start. The fence is called an apprehended personal violence order. It is the cousin of the domestic version built for people who are not family, neighbors, workmates, acquaintances, strangers.

It can order them not to approach you, not to contact you, and not to intimidate or stalk you, and breaching it is a criminal offense. If the person is a partner, an ex, or family, stronger orders usually apply, and we have separate videos for those. Here is your power in this state. Police can apply for one for you, and where things are serious, they often will. But if police decline or move too slowly, you can apply yourself directly at any local court registry. You fill in the application. You tell the court why you fear harm or harassment, and a magistrate decides.

Legal help is available for these matters, and the registry staff deal with them every week. If police have not acted, keep perspective and keep going. Police weigh these against criminal thresholds, and a no from one officer is not the law's final answer. Report every incident anyway and keep the event number each time. Because those reports become your evidence. And remember, stalking and intimidation is itself a crime in New South Wales. So a pattern that grows can and should go back to them. Evidence wins these orders, so build it calmly, a diary with dates, times, and exactly what happened.

Screenshots of every message and post saved where they cannot vanish, names of anyone who saw or heard anything, and discipline. Do not reply, do not retaliate, and do not delete a thing. Silence from you and a growing file is the strongest position there is. And if the abuse is happening online, two national doors are open as well. The e safety commissioner runs an adult cyber abuse scheme with real power to have seriously harmful content taken down. And using a phone or the Internet to menace or harass someone is a commonwealth crime in its own right, carrying up to five years. Online does not mean untouchable.

One more thing that outranks everything here. If you are ever in immediate danger, ring triple zero, always. For everything else, the path is evidence, persistence, and an application the law lets you make yourself. If you would like help preparing it or advice on your situation tonight, our hotline is free to call at any hour, and a consultation with a lawyer is a fixed price. The number is on your screen.