In this Act—

• “acts” includes omissions;

• “chief officer of police” means—

  1. a

     the chief constable of a police force maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996 (police forces in England and Wales outside London);

  2. b

     the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis;

  3. c

     the Commissioner of Police for the City of London;

  4. d

     the chief constable of the British Transport Police;

  5. e

     the chief constable of the Ministry of Defence Police;

• “defendant” has the meaning given by section 1(1);

• “home address”, in relation to a person, means—

  1. a

     the address of the person’s sole or main residence in the United Kingdom, or

  2. b

     if the person has no such residence, the address or location of a place in the United Kingdom where the person can regularly be found and, if there is more than one such place, such of those places as the person may select;

• “interim stalking protection order” has the meaning given by section 5(2);

• “local police area”, in relation to a person, means—

  1. a

     the police area in which the person’s home address is situated,

  2. b

     in the absence of a home address, the police area in which the home address last notified is situated (whether that notification was in accordance with the requirements imposed by section 9 or in accordance with notification requirements under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003), or

  3. c

     in the absence of a home address and of any such notification, the police area in which the magistrates’ court which last made a stalking protection order or an interim stalking protection order in respect of the person is situated;

• “magistrates’ court”, in relation to a defendant under the age of 18, means youth court;

• “photograph” includes any process by means of which an image may be produced;

• “relevant chief officer of police”, in relation to an application for an order under section 4 or to an appeal under section 7, means—

  1. a

     the chief officer of police for the area in which the defendant resides,

  2. b

     a chief officer of police who believes that the defendant is in, or is intending to come to, that chief officer’s police area, and

  3. c

     the chief officer of police who applied for the stalking protection order to which the application or appeal relates;

• “stalking protection order” has the meaning given by section 1(1).

In this Act, references to a “risk associated with stalking” are to be read in accordance with section 1(4).