Services Guides About
DIY Crime Fixer Guide

How To Document Threats, Harassment, Or Repeated Unwanted Contact While Reducing Escalation Risk

A practical way to document threats, harassment, stalking concerns, and repeated unwanted contact without feeding the situation.

All Guides
Short version: Documentation is useful only if you stay safe enough to keep it. Do not trade safety for one more screenshot.

Why This Matters

Reddit threads about harassment and stalking often start the same way: someone has dozens of messages, blocked numbers, strange drive-bys, or unwanted contact, but they are not sure what counts as evidence. They also worry that reporting too early will make the other person angrier.

The safest starting point is boring documentation. You are not trying to investigate the person. You are preserving a clear pattern of what happened, when it happened, and how it affected your safety.

Step By Step

  • Create one incident log and use it every time. Consistency matters more than perfect writing.
  • Record date, time, location, method of contact, what happened, and whether there was a threat, property damage, following, surveillance, or unwanted appearance.
  • Save the original message, voicemail, email, or video before blocking or deleting anything.
  • Screenshot the full context, including the sender, timestamp, username, phone number, URL, and surrounding messages.
  • Stop responding once you have made your boundary clear, unless an attorney or safety professional tells you otherwise.
  • Tell one trusted person what is happening and where the evidence is stored.
  • If you report to police, bring the timeline first and the full evidence folder second.

Checklist

  • Incident log with each contact or appearance
  • Screenshots showing sender and timestamp
  • Voicemails saved or exported
  • Photos of property damage or notes left behind
  • Names of witnesses or neighbors who saw the conduct
  • Copies of prior police, court, school, employer, or platform reports

Common Mistakes

  • Do not threaten the person back.
  • Do not post the evidence publicly while the situation is active unless your attorney or safety plan supports that.
  • Do not secretly record conversations without checking your state law first.
  • Do not meet the person to "get proof."

When To Stop DIY

  • Call 911 if threats are immediate, the person is outside, there is forced entry, a weapon is involved, or someone may be hurt.
  • Contact a domestic violence, stalking, or victim-advocacy organization if the person has a history of violence, coercive control, or access to your home, work, school, devices, or finances.

Simple Template

  • Date/time: 2026-06-30 at 8:14 PM.
  • Method: Text message from 206-000-0000.
  • What happened: Sent three messages after being told not to contact me.
  • Exact concerning words: Quote only the threatening or important sentence.
  • Evidence saved as: 2026-06-30_texts_unwanted-contact_01.png.
  • Witnesses: None, or name/contact.
  • Safety action: Blocked number, stayed elsewhere, called police, told manager, changed locks, etc.

Sources Used