If you are the victim of harassment in Texas, you should report the case to the police as soon as possible. If you have no idea how to file harassment charges in Texas, check out the post about how to file harassment charges in the Texas Penal Code below.
In Penal Code Section 42.7, harassment is described as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another:
(1) initiates communication and in the course of the communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal that is obscene;
(2) threatens, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the person receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the person or to commit a felony against the person, a member of the person’s family or household, or the person’s property;
(3) conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or serious bodily injury;
(4) causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend another;
(5) makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to hang up or disengage the connection;
(6) knowingly permits a telephone under the person’s control to be used by another to commit an offense under this section;
(7) sends repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend another; or
(8) publishes on an Internet website, including a social media platform, repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to cause emotional distress, abuse, or torment to another person, unless the communications are made in connection with a matter of public concern.
In general, harassment is included in a class B misdemeanor. However, it can also be counted as class A if the person meets specific pre-requisites, such as the person or actor has previously been convicted for harassment.
What is the best way to deal with harassment in Texas? If you are getting harassed, you are suggested consulting with your attorney to find the best way to deal with it. Usually, you suspect will not admit their wrongdoings and will accuse you of making a false report. For the details of how to file harassment charges, check out the following instructions below:
- First of all, you should stay calm. Getting panicked in such a situation will not help you to solve the issue. Make sure to also be aware of your surroundings.
- If you can, try to remove yourself from the situation.
- It is important for you to document all the things that happen, including time, date and location.
- Do not forget to collect any evidence that you may have, including text messages or voicemails.
- After that, reach out to an attorney to discuss your legal options.
- Once you have talked to your attorney, you can file a police report.
- If needed, you can also get a restraining order.
- If you want, you can also press charges.
In case you are getting harassed online, make sure to take screenshots of the harassing messages and keep them in your folder. Besides, you can also try to reach out to the website or social media platform, the place where the harassment is taking place, and report the user. In addition, it is also possible for you to get a restraining order against the one who is harassing you.
Talking about filing harassment charges, you may be wondering if you can file a police report online. For anyone who is wondering if you can file a police report online, the good news is yes. You can file a police report online. Feel free to do it with your local sheriff’s department or with your local state police office. Just go for what you think is the best. However, it is better for you to contact the office of your local sheriff because they will be able to deal with your case more effectively and will be able to start working on the case immediately compared to the other agencies.
Before filing a police report online, you should know some conditions relating to it. One of them is that you, as the one who reports the case, must fall within specific categories. Aside from that, the crime itself must equally fall within specific categories.
If you want to report harassment online, you should be over the age of 18, know that the incident happened within the jurisdiction of the country’s sheriff’s office, the incident was not an emergency and you get an email address so that you can be contacted for follow-up questions. In several jurisdictions, there are some additional restrictions that are applied on whether you can report a crime online or not. For instance, if you get the evidence at the same time of the harassment, then you should call your local law enforcement officials instead of trying to file a police report online.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
