Being seriously Harassed

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For about 5 months I've been followed by groups of young people in the street. Sometimes they shout abuse once right in my face from six inches away. Mostly they just film me on their mobile phones usually its quite blatant.
At first I ignored It, hoping they would get bored. The last time it happened It made me really angry as I'd never seen this group before and theres almost a bird-spotter competitive stalking thing going on. These kids were well dressed in trendy quirky clothes and obviously not local hooligans as they looked quite middle class.

I have made enemies in the past as I tend to speak my mind but nothing to provoke this.

As I don't know who's behind it the only thing I can think of to do is to cause a scene in a very public place to get the police involved as this will bring things out into the open and I'll find out who they are and who's behind it and why.

I'll do my best to hurt one of them enough to get myself arrested if necessary. I can't report them to the police if I don't know who they are.

Any other ideas?

Do they follow you into stores, gas station, ect? Either way, I would get them following you, go into the bathroom and use a cellphone to phone the police discreetly, then hang around until the police arrive, taking care not to make it seem suspicious so they don't leave. DO NOT HURT/FIGHT THEM, or they can sue you, and any action you take against them officially will be scrutinized more.

If they don't follow you into stores, and you don't have a cellphone, just ask the clerk to phone the cops for you so they can't hear. Because I guarantee they will leave quick if they know the cops are coming.

Are you sure that's a good idea? Suppose you get thrashed or outnumbered. Suppose one of them has a weapon. Suppose they film you attacking and you get in trouble. You could end up hospitalized or in jail.

You should tell the police anyway (especially if they threaten you). They might not do anything, but I think they keep track of statistics like that. Who knows? Maybe they'll start patrolling the places it happens more often.

If you feel threatened, maybe should get pepper spray, or mace, or a taser, or a knife (I don't know what the law says about concealed weapons in your city/state). Then the next time they follow you, tell them there will be trouble if they get any closer. If they call your bluff, just pull out your deterrent. If things turn out well, they'll stop, and if things turn out poorly, they'll be in a world of hurt, and you can call it like it is: self-defense.

Best of all: Why not film them? If that gets under their skin, all the better. Plus you'll have evidence you can use in your favor.

Thanks, i'll get a cheap mobile phone with a camera, I was worried the police wouldn't take it seriously. I live in the UK and carrying any kind of weapon is illegal. mace is illegal but can be got hold of. but I think it would be a last resort. It only hit me today how serious the situation had got. Even though it doesn't happen evey time I go out it's starting to make me nervous.

Yeah. Disregard what I said earlier. In some dangerous neighborhoods in major US cities it's wise to carry protection, but it sounds like your situation is different.

Since you don't know them personally, I bet they stalk and harass other people too.
What kind of things do they shout at you?

I think they only shout when I dont see them or Im pretending not to see them. Usually its personal abuse about my appearance or just crude stuff like f**king twat, not very subtle.

I can't always hear what they are saying because I can't filter out the traffic noise. I also don't always recognise people which doesn't help.

It's good that it's got more blatant because now I know it's not paranoia.

I'm not going to let it get to me as I don't think there's a physical threat.

They'll probably get bored and find someone else.

I would suggest you lead them to a busy place (less chance they'll turn violent) and then stop. Calmly take out your camera and film each of their faces in turn. Inform them that you'll be retaining their images for the police, should they continue to bother you. If they are garden-variety punk kids, they'll pretend not to care and secretly be scared shytless. Hopefully, you won't see them again after that. Definitely keep the pictures, though.

Id suggest getting a friend to follow you from a distance filming you... and thus catching these creeps on film as they harass you. Lead them into a public place that you know has cameras so you can have backup from a 3rd party source.

Get it on film not once but at least 4 to 5 times on different dates (make sure the phone video show date & time on the video itself).

Then all you need to do is show them to a lawyer (don't go to the police right away) and have him advise you what to do. Showing it to the police first will likely have them ignore you or give them a verbal warning (which will make things worse)... a lawyer may likely give you the option of issuing a restraining order or whatever kind of harassment suit/complaint is available in the UK.

Until you have something in paper that legally binds these creeps to stay away from you it wont stop. Think of it this way.. a police verbal warning means squat as they need to arrest them as they commit the harassment and that will be highly unlikely whereas if you have your restraining order/whatever and they do it again AND you catch them on film... they can be fined or jailed.

plus I bet they are stupid enough to keep the stuff they filmed on their phones..extra evidence for your lawyer to salivate over.