Police in England and Wales will be able to apply to courts for stalking protection orders (SPOs), which aim to protect victims "at the earliest opportunity".
The stalking protection orders aim to block perpetrators from approaching their victims and allow courts in England and Wales to move quicker to ban stalkers from contacting or visiting victims.
The orders are available if the stalking occurs outside of a domestic abuse context, or where the perpetrator is not a current or former intimate partner of the victim (so-called 'stranger stalking') or the criminal threshold has not, or has not yet, been met, or the victim does not support a prosecution.
The civil orders are usually in place for a minimum of two years, and those who breach them face up to five years behind bars.
