Yes, you can call the police if someone threatens you, and in most situations you should. Threats of violence are crimes in all 50 states, and threats sent electronically across state lines can also violate federal law.1Republican Policy Committee. State Terrorism Threat Laws You don’t have to decide on your own whether what happened is serious enough to be a crime. That’s what investigators and prosecutors do. Your job is to report what happened accurately and let the system evaluate it. Even if charges never get filed, a police report creates an official record that matters if the person threatens you again or escalates.
911 or the Non-Emergency Line
Call 911 if the person is nearby, might act on the threat soon, or you feel you’re in immediate danger. Don’t talk yourself out of calling because you’re not sure the situation is “bad enough.” Dispatchers are trained to sort exactly that kind of uncertainty, and the 911 system exists for moments when you don’t know what’s about to happen.
Use your local police department’s non-emergency number if the threat happened earlier and there’s no active danger. You can find the number on your city or county government’s website. Many departments also let you file a report in person at the station, which some people prefer when they have documents, screenshots, or a longer story to walk through. Either route generates the same official report.
What to Document Before You Call
Threats are notoriously hard to prove later, and what you preserve in the first few hours often decides whether a case moves forward. If you have a few minutes before making the call, or right after, gather what you can.
- Screenshot every text, email, social media message, and voicemail. Do not delete originals. If the sender deletes their copy, your screenshot may be the only record it existed.
- For a spoken threat, write down the exact words as soon as possible, with the date, time, location, and what led up to it. Memory fades quickly, and contemporaneous notes carry weight.
- Get the name and contact information of anyone who saw or heard the threat. A witness turns a disputed account into a much stronger case.
- Note what you know about the person: full name, physical description, relationship to you, home or work address, and vehicle description or plate if they drove off.
Hand all of this to the officer who takes your statement. The more organized your report is, the easier it becomes for police to gauge credibility and act on it.
When a Threat Counts as a Crime
Not every hostile remark breaks the law. Courts distinguish between angry venting and what they call “true threats,” which are statements communicating a serious intention to commit violence against a specific person. The First Amendment protects a lot of offensive and provocative speech, but true threats fall outside that protection.2Library of Congress. Constitution Annotated – True Threats
Context does most of the work. A coworker snapping “I could kill you” over a stolen lunch is a different situation from someone showing up at your home describing what they plan to do. Courts weigh how specific the language was, whether the speaker and target had a history of conflict, whether you had reason to take it seriously, and the setting. A vague comment in a crowded room rarely qualifies. A detailed, targeted statement delivered one-on-one almost always does.
The Speaker’s State of Mind
In 2023, the Supreme Court clarified what prosecutors have to prove about the speaker’s mindset. In Counterman v. Colorado, the Court held 7–2 that the First Amendment requires the government to show the speaker acted with at least recklessness: that the person was aware their words could be perceived as a threat of violence and chose to say them anyway. Prosecutors don’t have to prove the person intended to carry out the threat, or even intended to scare you. They only have to show the speaker consciously disregarded a substantial risk that the communication would be viewed as threatening.3Supreme Court of the United States. Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (2023)
That standard closes a familiar escape hatch. Someone who threatens you can’t simply say they were joking. If a reasonable person in their position would have known the words could be taken as a real threat, that’s enough.
Conditional Threats
Conditional threats (“if you do X, I’ll hurt you”) are not automatically legal. Courts read them in context like any other statement. A mugger saying “give me your wallet or I’ll stab you” is making a conditional statement, and no court would treat it as anything other than a true threat. On the other end, “I’ll kill you if the Yankees lose again” is obvious hyperbole. Direct, specific, personalized language aimed at an individual is a crime whether or not it includes a condition. Political speech in the abstract, by contrast, gets strong protection: rhetorical exaggeration in a heated debate is generally not treated as an actionable threat.2Library of Congress. Constitution Annotated – True Threats
Threats Sent Electronically
Threats sent by email, text, social media, or any other electronic method that crosses state lines can be prosecuted federally under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), which covers interstate communications containing a threat to kidnap or injure. A conviction carries up to five years in federal prison.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 875 – Interstate Communications When threats become a pattern, federal cyberstalking law under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A may also apply: two or more electronic acts placing someone in reasonable fear of death or serious injury is a felony punishable by up to five years.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261A – Stalking
What Happens After You File the Report
Filing a report sets a formal process in motion. The officer takes your statement, writes it up, and assigns a case number. Keep that number. You’ll need it if you seek a protective order, contact the prosecutor, or follow up on the investigation.
Police then review the report to decide whether the conduct meets the elements of a criminal offense. If it does, they may investigate further: interviewing you again, talking to witnesses, reviewing digital evidence, and trying to contact the person who made the threat. The goal is to establish probable cause for an arrest. When investigators believe they have enough, they forward the case to the local prosecutor’s office, which makes the final call on charges.
A lot of threat cases stall at that stage. Prosecutors have heavy caseloads and tend to prioritize cases with strong evidence, clear victim fear, and a pattern of escalating behavior. A single verbal threat with no witnesses is harder to prosecute than a series of graphic messages from someone with a domestic violence record. That’s not a reason to skip reporting the single verbal threat. The report creates a paper trail that becomes critical if the behavior continues.
If the Police Don’t Take Action
Police sometimes decline to investigate, particularly when the threat was verbal, there’s no physical evidence, or officers view the situation as a personal dispute. That’s frustrating, but you still have options.
- Contact the district attorney’s office directly. Most DA offices have their own investigators and can pursue charges independently. If you believe a crime occurred and the police disagree, the prosecutor’s office is the next step.
- File for a civil protective order. This is a separate court process that doesn’t require police cooperation or a criminal case (covered below).
- Pursue a civil lawsuit. If the threat caused real harm, like emotional distress requiring treatment, lost wages, or relocation costs, you may have a civil claim. Civil cases use a lower standard of proof than criminal ones.
Keep the police report number and copies of everything you submitted, even if the case went nowhere at the time. Prior reports become important evidence if the person threatens you again.
Protective Orders
A protective order, sometimes called a restraining order depending on the state, is a court order barring the person who threatened you from contacting you, coming near your home or workplace, or engaging in other specified behavior. Violating one is itself a separate crime, typically a misdemeanor for a first offense and potentially a felony for repeat violations. Some states impose mandatory minimum jail time for violations, and those sentences typically run consecutive to any other sentence the person is already serving.6Office for Victims of Crime. Enforcement of Protective Orders, Legal Series Bulletin 4
You start by filing a petition at your local courthouse. Many jurisdictions waive the filing fee for domestic violence or stalking cases. If the judge finds evidence of an immediate threat, a temporary order can issue the same day, often without the other party present. A full hearing follows within a couple of weeks, where both sides present their case and the judge decides whether to grant a longer-term order. Bring your police report, screenshots, witness statements, and any other documentation.
Protective orders don’t require a criminal conviction, use a lower standard of proof than a criminal case, and give police a clear, enforceable basis to arrest the person immediately if they contact you again.
Threats at Work
If the threat happened at your workplace, report it to your employer as well as the police. These are not either/or channels. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, every employer must provide a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 654 – Duties of Employers and Employees OSHA treats workplace violence, including threats, as a recognized hazard and enforces through that general duty clause, since no specific federal workplace violence standard currently exists.8Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workplace Violence
Your employer has a duty to investigate and take reasonable steps to protect you, which might include reassigning the threatening person, increasing security, or barring a customer. Report to your employer in writing so there’s a record. If the company knows and does nothing, it may face liability for failing to maintain safe working conditions, and your written report becomes evidence of what the company knew and when.
One Caution on Reporting
Reporting a threat that actually happened is always appropriate, even if you’re not sure it meets the legal threshold for a crime. That determination belongs to investigators and prosecutors. Knowingly filing a false report is itself a crime in every state, typically a misdemeanor treated as a form of obstruction of justice. Exaggerating what was said, inventing a threat, or filing a report to harass someone can turn the situation around on you. Stick to what actually happened, report it as accurately as you can, and let the system do its work.