Restraining Orders

A non-domestic stalking personal protection order (PPO) can be issued based on stalking, aggravated stalking, or cyberstalking, as defined below, even if it’s never reported to the police. (If you have one of the domestic relationships described here, you would file for a domestic relationship PPO instead.)

Stalking is when someone commits harassment against you two or more times and it reasonably causes you to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or bothered (“molested”). Harassment is repeated, unwanted contact that has no valid purpose and that reasonably causes you to suffer emotional harm (distress). It includes, but is not limited to:

• following you or appearing within your sight;
• approaching or confronting you in a public place or on private property;
• appearing at your workplace or home;
• entering onto, remaining on, or putting an object on property that you own, rent (lease), or that you are currently occupying;
• contacting you by telephone; or
• sending you mail, email or text messages.¹

Cyberstalking, for the purposes of this PPO, is when the respondent commits the crime of posting or attempting to post messages about you through the Internet, computer, or any other form of electronic communication without your consent; it doesn’t matter if the information posted is true or not true. To qualify for a protection order under this ground, all of the following must be true:

• The respondent knows or should know that posting the message could cause two or more separate acts of harassment committed against you by anyone.
• The respondent has the intention of causing someone to act in a way that would terrorize, frighten, intimidate, threaten, harass, or bother (“molest”) you and you actually do feel one of those emotions as a result of actions someone committed based on the post.
• You suffer emotional distress as a result of actions someone committed based on the post.³

Note: Someone who is in prison cannot apply for a stalking personal protection order while incarcerated.⁴

¹ MCL § 750.411h(a), (c)-(f)
² MCL § 750.411i(2)
³ MCL § 750.411s(1)
⁴ MCL § 600.2950a(31)