Commentary: When someone makes you feel unsafe in public, do you confront, film or walk away?

Think you’re being followed or watched by a stranger? Trust the warning signal but do not turn yourself into the investigator, says lawyer Gloria James.

File photo of a stalker. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

SINGAPORE: Two recent incidents in Singapore have sparked discussions about what people, especially women and younger people, should do when a stranger makes them feel unsafe.

In August, two girls alleged that a man repeatedly walked around them in a HDB estate in Sengkang, approached them and offered to pay them to do “something” for him. They told him to leave, but later saw him watching them from a car park and hiding behind pillars. One of the girls eventually confronted him and the pair chased him while filming as he ran away, according to a TikTok video.

In another case, a woman alleged that while she was sketching outdoors in Ang Mo Kio, an older man came close to her, hovered nearby and repeatedly looked at her. In a post on social media platform Reddit, the woman said she decided to confront the man who began shouting vulgarities. To which, she decided to respond loudly enough to “outcrazy” him.

Both incidents prompted discussions online, with many praising the ladies involved as brave for standing up for themselves. However, there were also others who cautioned that confronting strangers with unknown intentions could be dangerous.

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These raise a practical question: What can you do when you feel threatened in public but do not yet know whether the stranger has committed an offence? Should you confront them, film the encounter or walk to a crowded place to seek help?

WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT STALKING AND STARING

Context is everything. Someone walking behind you from an MRT station may simply be going the same way. The picture changes if the person follows after you change direction, waits when you stop, repeatedly reappears or continues watching as you try to leave.

Under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA), unlawful stalking involves a “course of conduct” associated with stalking which causes harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation, where the accused intends that result or knows that the conduct is likely to have that effect.

Following someone, loitering near places the target frequents and keeping them under surveillance are expressly listed as examples.

Stalking need not take place over several days. A single occasion may qualify if the conduct is sufficiently protracted. In a 2020 case where the accused persons had followed National Environment Agency officers by vehicle for more than three hours, the High Court said the assessment is not merely a matter of counting minutes. Relevant considerations include the type, intensity and intrusiveness of the conduct and whether there is unreasonable persistence or continuity of purpose.

In August, two girls alleged that a man repeatedly walked around them in a HDB estate in Sengkang. (Screengrabs: TikTok/muahchee)

What about when someone stares “creepily” at you? There is no standalone offence of being “creepy” or simply looking at someone but staring may form a part of wider conduct. Under POHA, threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual or indecent words or behaviour can amount to an offence where the respective statutory requirements as to intention, effect and circumstances are satisfied.

A brief look is one thing. Hovering repeatedly nearby, following someone, making sexual gestures, refusing to leave them alone, or using threatening or abusive words may be another.

For both incidents, online accounts alone cannot establish whether an offence was committed. That said, one’s instinct that something is wrong may be enough reason to move away, seek help, call the police or even start filming.

SHOULD YOU FILM AN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION?

In this day and age, reaching for one’s phone may have become an instinctive response to an uncomfortable situation.

Filming can help – it is typically not against the law to take videos or photographs of another person in public without their consent – but it should not be the objective. A video may preserve what was said, how close someone came or whether a person continued staring or following after being told to stop.

This is evidence, but if getting a clear shot means approaching someone you fear or following him into an isolated place, the evidential benefit is not worth the added risk.

There is also a difference between recording for evidence to be submitted to the police and posting it online to go viral to “publicly shame” an individual.

Under POHA, a photograph or video can constitute a person’s “identity information”. Publishing it is not automatically doxxing, but it can engage POHA where the statutory elements are met. Publicly making serious allegations against an identifiable person may also lead to a risk of it being defamation if the allegation is unsupported or if there is no applicable defence available.

More practically, social media can turn uncertainty into certainty very quickly. For example, “I thought this man was following me” becomes “this man is a stalker”. Strangers may identify him, his workplace or even his family members, correctly or otherwise, and before long, an allegation can harden into an online verdict.

It is worth remembering that the police and the courts, rather than an online crowd, are better placed to determine whether an offence has in fact been committed.

SHOULD YOU CONFRONT THE PERSON?

What about confronting the person? There is no one fixed answer, but there is a difference between asserting a boundary and pursuing a stranger.

Saying “please stop following me” in a crowded station may draw attention and assistance. Chasing someone into a car park is a different story. In the Reddit post, the woman in the Ang Mo Kio incident also noted that while women must be prepared to defend themselves, confrontation should only be attempted in a public place with people around.

The police advise people who suspect they are being followed to remain calm and head to a crowded area or call the police. For emergencies, call 999 and you can also SMS 70999 when it is unsafe to speak.

Courage does not have to mean confrontation. Sometimes the sensible response is to call out the behaviour. Sometimes it is to enter a shop, approach other people, call the police or simply leave. The law can decide later whether the conduct amounted to stalking or harassment.

In the moment, the more important question is simpler: How do I get out of this safely? Trust the warning signal, but do not turn yourself into the investigator. The aim is not to win the encounter or prove your instincts right. It is to get home safely.

Gloria James is Head Lawyer at Gloria James-Civetta & Co.

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律师格洛丽亚·詹姆斯说，如果你觉得自己被陌生人跟踪或监视，请相信这种警告信号，但不要主动向调查人员自首。

（图片：CNA/Jeremy Long）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：新加坡最近发生的两起事件引发了关于当陌生人让他们感到不安全时，人们（尤其是女性和年轻人）应该怎么做的讨论。

8月份，两名女孩声称，一名男子在盛港组屋区反复徘徊在她们周围，并接近她们，提出付钱让她们帮他做“某事”。她们让他离开，但后来发现他躲在停车场观察她们，还藏在柱子后面。其中一名女孩最终上前质问他，两人一边追赶一边拍摄他逃跑的过程，这段视频来自一段TikTok视频。

另一起案件中，一名女子声称，她在宏茂桥户外写生时，一名老年男子靠近她，在她附近徘徊，并反复盯着她看。该女子在社交媒体平台Reddit上发帖称，她决定上前质问这名男子，结果他开始大声辱骂。于是，她决定大声回击，以“震慑”他。

这两起事件都在网上引发了热议，许多人称赞涉事女性勇敢地维护自身权益。然而，也有人提醒说，与意图不明的陌生人对抗可能很危险。

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这就引出了一个实际问题：当你在公共场合感到受到威胁，但还不知道陌生人是否犯了罪时，你该怎么办？你应该上前质问，拍摄遭遇过程，还是走到人多的地方寻求帮助？

法律对跟踪和凝视的规定

情境至关重要。从地铁站出来后跟在你身后的人，可能只是和你同路。但如果这个人在你改变方向后跟上来，在你停下来时等​​待，反复出现，或者在你试图离开时一直盯着你看，情况就完全不同了。

根据《防止骚扰法》(POHA)，非法跟踪是指与跟踪有关的“一系列行为”，造成骚扰、惊吓、痛苦或羞辱，而被告人意图造成这种结果或明知该行为可能产生这种效果。

跟踪某人、在目标人物经常出入的地方附近徘徊以及对其进行监视都被明确列为例子。

跟踪行为无需持续数日。即使仅发生一次，如果行为持续时间足够长，也可能构成跟踪。在2020年的一起案件中，被告驾车跟踪国家环境局官员超过三小时，高等法院指出，评估跟踪行为并非仅仅计算时间。相关考量因素包括行为的类型、强度和侵入性，以及是否存在不合理的持续性或目的性。

8月份，两名女孩声称在盛港的一个组屋区，一名男子反复在她们周围徘徊。（截图：TikTok/muahchee）

如果有人用令人毛骨悚然的眼神盯着你看呢？“令人毛骨悚然”或仅仅是盯着别人看本身并不构成犯罪，但盯着看可能构成某种更广泛行为的一部分。根据《防止骚扰法》（POHA），威胁性、辱骂性、侮辱性、性暗示或不雅的言语或行为，如果满足有关意图、效果和情况的相应法定要件，则可能构成犯罪。

短暂地看一眼是一回事，反复在附近徘徊、跟踪他人、做出性暗示动作、不肯离开，或者使用威胁或辱骂性语言，则可能是另一回事。

就这两起事件而言，仅凭网络账户信息无法确定是否构成犯罪。话虽如此，人们的直觉——感觉情况不对劲——可能足以成为离开现场、寻求帮助、报警甚至开始拍摄的理由。

是否应该拍摄令人尴尬的场景？

在当今时代，伸手去拿手机可能已经成为面对尴尬处境的一种本能反应。

拍摄或许有所帮助——在公共场合未经他人同意拍摄视频或照片通常并不违法——但这不应是拍摄的目的。视频可以记录下当时说了什么，有人靠得有多近，或者在被告知停止后是否继续盯着看或尾随。

这是证据，但如果为了获得清晰的拍摄角度而接近你害怕的人或跟踪他到偏僻的地方，那么获得证据的好处就不值得冒这个险了。

录像作为证据提交给警方和将其发布到网上使其疯传以“公开羞辱”个人之间也有区别。

根据《防止侵犯隐私法》（POHA），照片或视频可以构成个人的“身份信息”。发布此类信息本身并不必然构成人肉搜索，但如果符合法定要件，则可能触犯《防止侵犯隐私法》。公开对可识别身份的个人提出严重指控，如果指控缺乏证据支持或没有适用的抗辩理由，也可能构成诽谤。

更实际地说，社交媒体能迅速将不确定性转化为确定性。例如，“我以为这个人跟踪我”会变成“这个人是跟踪狂”。陌生人可能会指认出他、他的工作场所甚至他的家人，无论信息是否正确，很快，一个指控就能在网上变成定论。

值得注意的是，警察和法院，而不是网络上的群众，更能准确地判断是否真的发生了犯罪行为。

你应该当面质问这个人吗？

如果当面质问对方呢？这个问题没有标准答案，但维护自身界限和纠缠陌生人之间是有区别的。

在拥挤的车站里说“请不要跟着我”或许能引起注意并获得帮助。但追着人进停车场就完全是另一回事了。在Reddit的帖子中，宏茂桥事件中的女子也指出，虽然女性必须做好自卫的准备，但对抗行为应该只在人多的公共场所进行。

警方建议，如果怀疑自己被跟踪，应保持冷静，前往人多的地方或报警。紧急情况下，请拨打999；在不方便通话的情况下，也可以发送短信至70999。

勇气并不一定意味着对抗。有时，明智的做法是指出这种行为。有时，可以走进商店，与其他人交谈，报警，或者干脆离开。法律之后可以裁定这种行为是否构成跟踪或骚扰。

当下，更重要的问题其实很简单：如何安全脱身？相信你的警告信号，但不要让自己暴露给调查人员。你的目标不是赢得这场遭遇战，也不是证明你的直觉是正确的，而是安全回家。

Gloria James 是 Gloria James-Civetta & Co. 律师事务所的首席律师。

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