Protection Orders

What is a Protection From Stalking (PFS) Order?

A Protection from Stalking (PFS) Order is a civil court order that is intended to protect a victim of stalking. You do not have to have a prior or current personal relationship with the person you want restrained, but you do have to prove that the person is stalking you.

The Protection from Stalking Act (PFSA) contains three definitions that are important to consider if you want to file for a PFS order.

• First, “stalking” is defined as the “intentional harassment of another person that places the other person in reasonable fear for that person’s safety.”
• Second, “harassment” is a “knowing and intentional course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, torments or terrorizes the person, and that serves no legitimate purpose.”
• Finally, stalking and harassment must include a “course of conduct” on the part of the stalker, consisting of two or more separate acts over a period of time, however short, showing a “continuity of purpose” that would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress.

These three definitions should be read together when considering whether you qualify for a PFS order.