Reporting harassment to the police: what happens next, and when to sue

When you report harassment to the police in the UK, the police should record it as a crime, give you a crime reference number, assess the risk to you and decide whether to investigate. If they investigate, they usually speak to or arrest the person responsible, and then decide whether to take no further action, give a caution or charge them. In our experience, many reports of online harassment stop at the first or second step, and victims are told it is a civil matter. It is not only a civil matter. Harassment is a crime and a civil wrong under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, so if the police do not act, you can go to court yourself for an injunction and damages.

This article explains what happens after you report, what the police can and cannot do, how to report so that you are taken seriously, what to do if the police refuse to help, and when it makes sense to sue instead of waiting. It covers England and Wales. If you are in immediate danger, call 999.

What happens when you report harassment to the police

The police record your report, give you a crime reference number and assign an officer, who decides whether and how to investigate. What happens next depends on how serious the harassment is, whether the police know who is responsible, and how much evidence you can give them.

The usual sequence looks like this.

• Recording. The police record the report as a crime and give you a crime reference number. Under the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (the Victims' Code), you are entitled to have the crime recorded without unjustified delay and to receive written confirmation of your report.
• Risk assessment and statement. An officer assesses the risk to you, particularly where the harassment has moved offline or includes threats, and takes a statement. Stalking and harassment cases are sometimes passed to a specialist team.
• Contact with the suspect. If the police know who is responsible, they usually invite them to a voluntary interview under caution or arrest them. Where the risk is high, the suspect can be released on bail with conditions that keep them away from you.
• The decision. The police then decide whether to take no further action, give a caution, or charge. For the more serious offences, the Crown Prosecution Service decides whether to charge.
• Court. Most harassment cases are heard in the magistrates' court. On conviction the court can sentence the offender and make a restraining order under the Sentencing Act 2020 forbidding further contact. The court can make a restraining order even after an acquittal, under section 5A of the 1997 Act, if it is needed to protect you.

Some forces still give the suspect a police information notice, sometimes called a harassment warning. It is not a caution or a conviction, and it does not stop anyone doing anything. It tells the person that an allegation has been made and that further conduct could lead to arrest. A 2017 joint inspection of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service criticised the way these notices were used and told chief constables to stop issuing them, and some forces did.

How long it takes

A simple case where the suspect is known and admits the conduct can be dealt with in weeks. A case that needs data from a social media platform, particularly one based abroad, can take many months before anyone is interviewed, and longer still before it reaches court. In the meantime, the posts usually stay online and the harassment may well carry on.

What the police can and cannot do about harassment

The police can arrest, interview and charge the person harassing you, and ask a court to restrict their behaviour. They cannot award you compensation, and they cannot order a platform or a website to take content down.

Within those limits, the police can:

• arrest and interview the suspect, and search their devices where the offence justifies it;
• impose bail conditions while they investigate;
• charge an offence, or refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service;
• apply to the magistrates' court for a Stalking Protection Order under the Stalking Protection Act 2019, which can be made even without a conviction;
• ask platforms for account information, although this can be slow, particularly where the platform is based outside the UK;
• ask the person or the platform to remove harassing posts.

What the police cannot do is just as important. They cannot make a platform remove content. They decide whether the case continues, not you, and the Crown Prosecution Service can drop a case at any stage if it decides the evidence is not strong enough or that a prosecution is not in the public interest. A criminal court can order the offender to pay compensation after a conviction, but the sums are usually modest, and the police route does nothing for your legal costs or for any privacy or defamation claim that sits alongside the harassment.

The offences the police can charge

Harassment is an offence under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and stalking is an offence under section 2A. The more serious offences are putting someone in fear of violence under section 4, and stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress under section 4A.

Section 181 of the Online Safety Act 2023 makes it an offence to send a threatening communication. Section 179 of the same Act covers sending a message the sender knows to be false, intending to cause non-trivial harm. Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 also still apply to offensive and menacing messages.

Timing matters. The basic harassment and stalking offences under sections 2 and 2A are summary offences, and a prosecution usually has to start within six months of the conduct, under section 127 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980. If you wait a long time before reporting, the police may be limited to the most recent incidents.

How to report harassment to the police

Report it in the way that gets your evidence in front of an officer: in person at a police station, or online through your force's website, with your evidence organised so that it can be read in ten minutes. Call 999 if you are in immediate danger, and 101 if it is not an emergency.

The victims we speak to sometimes find that an online report on its own goes nowhere for weeks. Reporting in person, with a folder of evidence, tends to get a better response, because an officer can see the pattern for themselves. Before you go, we suggest you prepare:

• A short timeline. One page, in date order, of what has happened, starting with the first incident.
• Screenshots. Each one showing the message or post, the account name, the link and the date. Keep the originals and do not delete anything, even if it is upsetting.
• A list of accounts and names. Every profile, email address and phone number you think the person is using, and who you believe is behind them.
• The effect on you. A few lines on how the harassment has affected you, your work and your family. Harassment is defined by its effect as much as by the words used.
• Two copies. One to leave with the police, one to keep. Put your name, contact details and crime reference number on the front.

Tell the officer that you are reporting harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Ask for the crime reference number, the name of the officer dealing with it, and how to add new incidents. Every new message or post should be reported under the same reference, so that the course of conduct builds up in one place. Our guides on harassment by text message and cyberstalking explain how the offences apply to the most common kinds of conduct.

If the person is anonymous, give the police everything you have about the accounts, and do not engage with them. The police can ask platforms for account details, but they do not always have the time to do so. Our guide to exposing internet trolls explains how anonymous harassers are usually identified, and evidence we gather through a civil claim can be handed to the police to support a prosecution.

If the police say it is a civil matter, or refuse to act

Do not accept that answer. Harassment is a criminal offence as well as a civil wrong, and a dispute between you and the harasser does not make it any less a crime. Ask for the report to be recorded, ask for the refusal and the reason in writing, and ask to speak to a supervisor.

These are the reasons victims tell us they are given, and what lies behind them.

• "It is a civil matter." It can be both. A business, family or relationship dispute behind the harassment does not remove the criminal offence.
• "This is not harassment." Harassment does not need threats. Two or more incidents that cause alarm or distress can be enough, and repeated posts and publications can count.
• "Just stay offline." You can be harassed by material you never see. Knowing that posts about you are being read by friends, clients or family can be enough.
• "We do not have the resources." That is a reason for delay, not a reason not to record the crime. Online cases usually arrive with most of the evidence already gathered by the victim.
• "The suspect lives in another area." You can report to your local force. If you are told it belongs to another force, ask for the report to be recorded and passed on, and note the officer's name.
• "We need more evidence." Ask what evidence they need, and in what form, and provide it under the same crime reference number.

If nothing changes, make a written complaint to the force's professional standards department. If you are unhappy with how the complaint is handled, you can ask for a review; your outcome letter says whether the Independent Office for Police Conduct or your police and crime commissioner carries it out. If the police or the Crown Prosecution Service decide not to charge, the Victims' Right to Review scheme lets you ask for that decision to be looked at again.

Complaints take time, and the harassment rarely waits. This is the point at which most of our clients decide to take action themselves.

Report to the police or sue: choosing the route

You do not have to choose. You can report to the police and bring a civil claim at the same time, and in many of our cases the civil claim is what stops the harassment while the police are still investigating.

The two routes work differently.

• Control. In a criminal case, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service decide what happens. In a civil claim, you decide, with your solicitor, when to act and when to settle.
• Speed. A civil court can make an interim injunction within days, and in urgent cases within twenty-four hours, including against "persons unknown". See obtaining an emergency injunction.
• What you get. A civil claim under section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 can bring an injunction, damages for anxiety and financial loss, an order to delete material, and a contribution to your legal costs. It can also include claims for misuse of private information, data protection and defamation, which the criminal courts do not deal with.
• Proof. A criminal court has to be sure of guilt. A civil court decides on the balance of probabilities, which is a lower standard.
• Cost. The police route costs you nothing. A civil claim involves legal fees, although the person responsible can be ordered to pay a substantial part of them, and the prospect of paying can change their behaviour.

Breaching a civil injunction made under section 3 is itself a criminal offence under section 3(6) of the 1997 Act, so the police become involved again if the order is ignored. You usually have six years to bring a civil harassment claim, because section 11(1A) of the Limitation Act 1980 takes these claims outside the shorter personal injury time limit, although moving early almost always gives a better result.

Private prosecution

If the police will not act, you can bring the prosecution yourself. Section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 preserves the right of any individual to start a private prosecution, although the Crown Prosecution Service can take the case over under section 6(2), and can then continue or discontinue it. We explain how this works in private prosecution of online harassment cases. For most clients a civil injunction is quicker and gives more protection, but a private prosecution can be the right answer where a conviction matters.

What the civil route costs

A solicitor's harassment warning letter is the least expensive step, and many harassers stop there. A disclosure order to identify an anonymous account holder costs from £5,000 plus VAT. Injunction proceedings vary widely with the evidence and whether the other side defends, and our guide to harassment injunction cost sets out the ranges. In some cases we can act on a no win no fee basis once we have assessed the prospects.

What we do when the police cannot help

We stop the harassment ourselves, using the civil law, and we give the police the evidence they need if they want to prosecute. Most clients come to us after being told by the police that nothing can be done, and our first week usually looks like this.

• Evidence. We go through what has happened and what you want to achieve, and put the evidence into a form a court will accept.
• Identification. If the harasser is anonymous, our in-house open-source intelligence team works out who is behind the accounts. Where that is not enough, we apply to court for Norwich Pharmacal orders for social media requiring the platform to disclose who holds the account.
• Takedown. We send legal notices to the platforms, hosts and search engines, which tends to get a faster response than a user report.
• The letter. Once we know who it is, we write to them setting out what they have done, the law they have broken and what we require, usually within a deadline of seven to fourteen days.
• The injunction. If the letter is ignored or the risk is too high to wait, we apply for an online harassment injunction.

You can read more about how we act for victims on our harassment solicitors page.

Cases where the police could not help, and we could

These cases show what the civil route achieves when the police cannot. Identifying details have been changed in the two anonymised accounts.

Thirteen years of harassment ended in the High Court

For thirteen years, a man Lindsey Goldrick-Dean had met through an internet dating site built websites about her, filled them with offensive and private material, and contacted her friends and family to draw their attention to them. She went back to the police several times and was eventually told they had no idea how to deal with it. We took the case on. In July 2018 the High Court case against Paul Curran concluded with damages for Lindsey, an order restraining him from harassing her again, and a statement read in open court. Read the full account of Lindsey Goldrick-Dean v Paul Curran.

An emergency injunction after the police showed no interest

A former investor in our client's company, which had gone into liquidation fifteen years earlier, started publishing accusations about him, then created social media accounts impersonating him and contacted his family and professional contacts. The platforms did not remove the posts and the police seemed uninterested. By the time we were instructed, matters had deteriorated so far that we applied for an emergency injunction. Read whether it is best to take civil or criminal action for cyberbullying.

A hate website taken down without going to court

Our client had been targeted for more than a decade by an anonymous website about events nearly twenty years earlier, with fake profiles sharing it with colleagues and family. Our open-source intelligence team traced the site to its owner through her writing style and other online traces, despite a false name on the domain registration. We wrote to her with the evidence, and she took the website down. Neither a police investigation nor a court case was needed. Read what to do if someone creates a harassing website about you, and more of our online harassment case studies.

What outcome you can realistically expect

From the police, the realistic range goes from no further action, which is common in online cases, through a warning or caution, to a charge, a conviction and a restraining order. Where a case is charged, it can take several months to a year or more to reach a result, and you have little say in how it is handled.

From a civil claim, removal of posted material is usually the first result, typically within days to a few weeks depending on where it is hosted. Many cases end at the letter stage, with the harassment stopping and a signed undertaking not to repeat it. Where an injunction is needed, an interim order can be in place within days, and most contested cases end with the other side giving undertakings rather than going to trial.

Damages for harassment commonly range from the low thousands to the low tens of thousands of pounds, and higher where the harassment has caused financial loss. In Levi v Bates [2015] EWCA Civ 206 the court awarded the claimant £6,000 after her home address was published and supporters were encouraged to contact the household. In Hourani v Thomson [2017] EWHC 432 (QB) the award for harassment was £30,000, alongside separate libel damages.

The risks are worth weighing from the start. The other side may argue that their conduct was reasonable, or that they were acting to prevent or detect crime, which is a defence under section 1(3) of the 1997 Act. The Supreme Court held in Hayes v Willoughby [2013] UKSC 17 that someone relying on that defence must have thought rationally about whether their conduct was justified, which rules out obsessive campaigns dressed up as crime reporting. An anonymous or overseas harasser can slow things down, although it rarely stops them.

Frequently asked questions

What happens when you file a police report for harassment in the UK?

The police record the crime and give you a crime reference number, then an officer assesses the risk and takes your statement. If they decide to investigate, they usually contact the suspect for an interview or arrest them, and then decide whether to take no further action, give a caution or charge. Many online cases end without a charge, which is why a civil claim is worth considering alongside the report.

What can the police do about harassment?

They can arrest and interview the suspect, impose bail conditions, charge them with an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or the communications offences, and apply for a Stalking Protection Order. On conviction the court can make a restraining order. The police cannot award you damages or order content to be taken down, although they can ask for it to be removed.

Do the police have to record my report of harassment?

In most cases, yes. The national crime recording rules expect the police to record a crime when a victim reports one and there is no credible evidence to the contrary, and the Victims' Code entitles you to have it recorded without unjustified delay and to receive a crime reference number. If an officer refuses, ask for the refusal and the reason in writing.

Can the police make someone take harassing posts down?

Not directly. The police can ask the person or the platform to remove posts, and a criminal court can make a restraining order that forbids further publication after a conviction. A civil injunction is usually the quicker way to get an order requiring deletion, and a legal notice to the platform can work faster than either.

What if the police say harassment is a civil matter?

Harassment is both a crime and a civil wrong, so a police officer who says it is only a civil matter is not describing the law correctly. Ask for the report to be recorded, ask for the officer's name and a supervisor, and keep a note of the conversation. You can also bring a civil claim yourself, whatever the police decide.

Is it worth reporting online harassment to the police?

Usually, yes, even if you expect little to happen. The report creates a record, gives you a crime reference number, and shows a court later on that you took the matter seriously. If you feel unsafe, the report is also how the police can act quickly. Call 999 if you are in immediate danger.

Can I sue for harassment instead of going to the police?

Yes. Section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 gives you a civil claim for an injunction and damages, and it does not depend on a police report or a prosecution. You can report to the police and bring a civil claim at the same time, and you usually have six years to bring the claim.

Can I complain if the police do nothing about my harassment?

Yes. Complain first to the force's professional standards department, and if you are unhappy with the result you can ask for a review; your outcome letter says whether the Independent Office for Police Conduct or your police and crime commissioner carries it out. If the police or the Crown Prosecution Service decide not to charge, you can ask for that decision to be reviewed under the Victims' Right to Review scheme. Suing the police for failing to investigate is rarely possible.