Sep 2, 2021 | Getting Help
If you need help, call The Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 200 0247
If you are concerned about your personal safety, call the police on 999.
Phoning 999 from a mobile phone:
When phoning 999 from a mobile phone and you don’t speak or answer questions, press 55 when prompted to do so. Your call will be transferred to the police. 55 only works on mobile phones and does not allow the police to track your location.
Note if you don’t press 55, your call will be ended.
Phoning from a landline:
Call 999, if you can speak to the operator, even if you can only whisper. You may be asked to cough or tap keys on your phone in order to answer questions. If you don’t speak or answer the questions and the operator can only hear background noise they will transfer your call to the police.
If you hang up, the landline may stay connected for 45 seconds in the event that you pick it up again.
Phoning 999 from a landline will automatically provide the police with information about your location.
Sep 2, 2021 | Getting Help
Warning: It is not possible to entirely cover your online activities. The following information can help you to some degree cover your tracks. The only way to be completely safe is to use a different computer, for example a friend’s computer, at your local library or at work.
If you are unable to access a separate computer the following information will assist you in staying safer on the internet.
The first step is to check to see which web browser you are using. If you do not know, click on Help on the toolbar at the top of the browser screen. A drop down menu will appear, the last entry will say About Internet Explorer, About Mozilla Firefox, or something similar. The entry refers to which browser type you are using.
This section also covers internet browsing on mobile phones. Please note the information for clearing browsing history might be different for different makes of phones.
Warning about deleting cookies and browsing histories
Please note, there is a danger to removing the browsing data from your computer. An example of this if your partner has a saved password for their banking and you have cleared the cookies on your PC, the password will no longer be saved. Your partner may also realise the history on the PC has been cleared and this may raise their suspicion.
Personal note: When I realised my husband could see my browsing history, I would delete the individual pages that I had been viewing that I didn’t want him to see. I did this by going into Favourites or History depending upon your browser. Other traces of the sites may not be deleted, for example, cookies and password.
How to delete your browsing history from the most commonly used browsers:
How to delete your browsing history from the most commonly used browsers on smart phones:
How to use private browsing:
Exit site button
If you click on the Exit Site button it will quickly hide the page however you will still need to delete your history to fully cover your tracks.
For those using a desktop or laptop computer, it might be a good idea to have another document or website open in a new tab or window while browsing. That way if someone enters the room and you don’t want them to see what you are looking at, you can swiftly change to another window or tab. Adding a personal note, both my sons learned to do this very early on and were able to prevent their father seeing what they were looking at on the internet.
Stored passwords
To save time your chosen browser can store passwords, but these can also be used by someone else to access your account. When using a password on a site you will be asked if you want the browser to remember it – click NO
If by accident you do happen to accidentally save the password, you can delete it either as part of your history removal or separately depending upon your browser. Do remember that removing all passwords may be suspicious if you share a computer.
Toolbars
Remember if you use a search toolbar in your web browser your search items can be saved as part of your history.
To delete your search items in:
For users of social media the following links provide the information about how to stay safe when using them:
Forums
If you are part of a forum remember to always log of the account/session once you have finished and keep your password safe.
Email
When someone is abusing you sends you a harassing or threatening email, they can be printed out and saved as evidence of the abuse.
Your abuser can access your emails in the following ways:
- Sent items: Emails that you send will be stored in the ‘sent items’ folder. Go to the folder and delete any emails you do not want anyone to see. If you need to keep a copy, print out the sent email.
- Draft emails: If you start an email and do not finish it, it will be saved in the ‘drafts’ folder. Go to the folder and delete it if you do not want it seen. Print the message if you need to refer to it.
- Replying to an email: When replying to an email the original message may be in the body of the message. Print out a copy and delete the message.
- Deleting an email: Remember when an email is deleted it does not automatically fully delete the item. Instead it moves it to the ‘deleted items’ folder. You then have to go to that folder and manually select the message and delete it from the ‘deleted items’ folder. That way it will be removed completely.
There is always a risk that your abuser will know how to access your emails. Or you have a shared email. In these circumstances it is wise to set up a new email that you can access from anywhere. Programs like Outlook and Yahoo are examples. Keep this email secret and use a username that will not be recognised as it being you.
Passwords
Use a password to log into your computer. When setting up a password create one that nobody can guess. Don’t use your name, date of birth, your child’s name, your pet’s name, where you live or a version of any of them. Make sure to change it on a regular basis. This goes for any passwords that you use including email, forums and social media.
If you don’t set up a password to log into your computer someone else, your abuser, will be able to access your email and track your internet usage. They will also be able to see any documents that you have saved on the computer that you don’t want them to see.
Keep your password/s safe
