1Applications for ordersE+W
(1)A chief officer of police may apply to a magistrates' court for an order (a “stalking protection order”) in respect of a person (the “defendant”) if it appears to the chief officer that—
(a)the defendant has carried out acts associated with stalking,
(b)the defendant poses a risk associated with stalking to another person, and
(c)there is reasonable cause to believe the proposed order is necessary to protect another person from such a risk (whether or not the other person was the victim of the acts mentioned in paragraph (a)).
(2)A stalking protection order is an order which, for the purpose of preventing the defendant from carrying out acts associated with stalking—
(a)prohibits the defendant from doing anything described in the order, or
(b)requires the defendant to do anything described in the order.
(3)A chief officer of police for a police area in England and Wales may apply for a stalking protection order only in respect of a person—
(a)who resides in the chief officer's police area, or
(b)who the chief officer believes is in that area or is intending to come to it.
(4)A risk associated with stalking—
(a)may be in respect of physical or psychological harm to the other person;
(b)may arise from acts which the defendant knows or ought to know are unwelcome to the other person even if, in other circumstances, the acts would appear harmless in themselves.
(5)It does not matter—
(a)whether the acts mentioned in subsection (1)(a) were carried out in a part of the United Kingdom or elsewhere, or
(b)whether they were carried out before or after the commencement of this section.
(6)See section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 for examples of acts associated with stalking.
Commencement Information
I1S. 1 in force at 20.1.2020 by S.I. 2020/26, reg. 2