Harassment
Harassment involves unwanted and aggressive behaviour that can be physical, verbal, or emotional, and is often repeated over time. This can come in the forms of bullying, hate crimes and stalking towards children.
Bullying
Bullying can mean different things to different children. They may see themselves as the victim of the bullies or the bully. However, the feelings of the child being bullied are what matter most, regardless of how others view the behaviour.
Bullying can involve various behaviours or actions that are repeated and meant to cause harm. It can be driven be prejudice or simply because a child or young person is different in some way.
The top priority when dealing with bullying is to stop any violence and make sure the child is safe. It’s important to remember that even if bullying doesn’t involve physical violence, the emotional impact cant be just as harmful.
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Online bullying
Online bullying, or cyberbullying, is when someone uses the internet to target and deliberately upset someone. Cyberbullying often happens on personal devices that young people have continuous access to. This means it can happen anywhere and at any time, so it can feel like it’s hard to escape.
Offences might include threats to kill, threats to cause damage, harassment, and comments that incite racial hatred or violence.
For general unpleasant or inappropriate posts, first contact the social media site where the comments were made and ask for their help. Some forms of online bullying are illegal and should be reported to Humberside Police.
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Hate crime
Hate crime involves targeting people because of who they are, driven by hate or prejudice.
Hate crime can be physical, verbal or incitement to hatred.
Advice on how to report hate crime is available at Humberside Police.
Stalking
Stalking is unwanted or obsessive attention to another person. This can include following or watching them. Stalking is different from other crimes because it involves repeated actions over time. It can last for months or even years, and anyone can be a victim.
Stalking by proxy meaning harassing someone connected to the victim, like their family, friends, or colleagues, at affect the victim.
Advice on how to report stalking is available at Humberside Police.