Block Means Stop: Mandating Recognition and Law Enforcement Training for Technology-Facilitated Harassment and Stalking (TFHS) --- Petition Text: Every day, victims are told there is “nothing that can be done.” Not because the behavior isn’t real—but because it doesn’t look the way people expect it to. There is no one outside their window. There is no physical confrontation. There is no single, obvious threat. Instead, it’s constant. It’s being watched through your online activity. It’s patterns of monitoring your posts, your movements, your interactions. It’s coordinated behavior designed to intimidate, isolate, and psychologically exhaust you. And when victims report it, they are often dismissed—because the system is not trained to recognize it. This is the reality of technology-facilitated harassment and stalking. --- Across the United States, victims are being failed—not because laws do not exist, but because modern forms of abuse are being misunderstood, minimized, or dismissed. Technology has fundamentally changed how harassment and stalking occur. Individuals no longer need to be physically present to monitor, intimidate, or harm their targets. Through social media, digital surveillance, coordinated group behavior, and persistent online monitoring, victims are experiencing ongoing, targeted harm. Yet these patterns are routinely overlooked. Law enforcement officers, courts, and reporting systems often rely on outdated frameworks that prioritize physical proximity and explicit threats. As a result, victims of sustained digital targeting are frequently told there is “nothing that can be done”—even when the behavior is persistent, coordinated, and clearly harmful. This is not a gap in law. It is a gap in recognition. --- Technology-Facilitated Harassment and Stalking (TFHS) refers to patterns of monitoring, targeting, intimidation, and harm carried out through digital systems, platforms, and networks—regardless of physical distance between the perpetrator and the victim. TFHS is real. It is increasing. And it is not being consistently recognized or addressed. Without a standardized understanding of TFHS, responses remain inconsistent, victims remain unprotected, and harmful conduct continues unchecked. --- We call for the following actions: 1. Formal Recognition and Standardization of TFHS Establish a uniform legal and operational definition of Technology-Facilitated Harassment and Stalking (TFHS) across law enforcement agencies, courts, prosecutors, and victim service organizations. This definition must reflect modern patterns of behavior, including digital monitoring, coordinated harassment, and ongoing online targeting. 2. Mandatory Law Enforcement Training on TFHS Require comprehensive, standardized training for all law enforcement personnel at the state and federal level. This training must include: - Identification of non-physical stalking behaviors - Recognition of digital monitoring and surveillance patterns - Proper documentation and report-taking procedures - Risk assessment for victims facing ongoing digital targeting - Handling and preservation of digital evidence Victims should not be turned away because their harm does not fit outdated expectations. 3. Consistent Reporting and Response Protocols Implement clear, enforceable protocols requiring law enforcement to take reports of TFHS seriously, document them properly, and respond appropriately. No victim should be dismissed solely because the conduct occurs online or across state lines. --- This issue is not rare. It is not isolated. And it is not being taken seriously enough. Until it is recognized, it will continue. Until it is understood, it will be ignored. And until it is addressed, victims will continue to be told that nothing can be done—when in reality, something absolutely can. --- Block Means Stop.