“They took me to the cigarette to see” what’s the job “. The testimony of a young woman about how she was treated at the police station, initially reported by b1tv.ro, opened a wave of reactions on Reddit. Hundreds of comments gathered in a few hours have put the reflector on a system that seems not to work, victims left alone in front of aggressors and authorities accused of tacit complicity.
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Specifically, the case of a 27-year-old from the village of Posesti, Prahova, has aroused strong reactions in the public space after she told, in a clip published on Tiktok, that she has been watched and harassed by a 53-year-old man, and repeated attempts to file complaints to the police.
The woman claims that the aggressor is waiting for the nights in front of the block, hides behind cars and follows her even at work. In her account, she tells that she was left to wait two hours at the police station, after which the agents would have invited her out “to a cigarette” to discuss the situation: “If you didn’t happen, we have nothing to do.”
A user involved disproportion: when a woman comes to advertise that she is being pursued, she is put to wait for hours or treated with indifference. If the victim was a policeman, the case would be resolved in the first hour. His conclusion is that the lack of reaction should be sanctioned by actions in court and damages, otherwise the system remains opaque and repetitive.
Someone else completed: “How else would the beautiful statistics go out that we are the safest country in Europe? ”. For many, the reality lived by victims and official figures go on parallel roads.
Violence, a fake solution
A long series of discussions has brought to the attention of temptation for people to seek protection on their own when institutions do not react. “If the police ignore the complaints and the order of protection, the victim should have a way to stop the harassment”, someone wrote.
The reply came quickly: private violence is not a solution, but a regress. “Most victims call the police precisely because they cannot defend themselves. If you open the door of parallel justice, you put them even more in danger. It is not normal to get to a woman’s safety to depend on how many beaten friends,” emphasized another commentator.
The debate continued by emphasizing the fact that there is a risk that victims will become dependent on “protectors” who could exploit them and that there is a danger that the aggressors will seek revenge and the impossibility of creating a long-term safety culture. Their common conclusion? The solution is not the normalization of violence, but the real functioning of the police and justice.
Differences from other European states
An expat who worked as a police officer in a European country explained that the procedures are radically different in us. For example, in the West, stalking cases are treated as absolute emergencies. The aggressor is detained immediately, usually monitored with electronic bracelet and permanently supervised to the trial. “There is not even the term stalking in the legislation. Women have no chance. The solution is not to change their job or move, but that the aggressors know that if they are approaching, they go directly to prison for a few years ”, he noted.
Another user completed that in Romania, until the “urgent prison” is “clogged”, the victims risk being attacked, because the files are lost by courts for years. The example invoked by it? An open process nine years ago and just sent to court recently. “How can anyone believe that a harassment case is resolved?“He asked.
Other commentators pointed out that the problem is not only the police, but also the extremely slow pace of justice. “I have a five-year-old civil trial with a neighbor. Imagine how much a serious criminal case can take.” someone wrote. The general perception is that, meanwhile, the victims remain exposed and unprotected.
Another user said: “In Romania today, the safest for her would be to move and change her job. That’s how things work, because the system is not able to protect. “
Self -defense and preventive solutions
More pragmatic, some have proposed support solutions for victims. “Why not organize on weekends, free, self-defense courses for women in parks? It would be extraordinarily well received. Women would feel stronger and could react without fear,” wrote a user.
The other recommended the constant wearing of a pepper spray and documenting the incidents with the mobile phone, so that the aggressors are publicly exposed. Even if these solutions do not replace the role of the state, they can provide a minimum sense of safety.
A commentator referred to the Grevio Report of the Council of Europe, published in 2022, which showed that violence against women is massively under -report, including due to distrust in the justice system and the phenomenon of victims. “Many women choose not to advertise precisely because they are afraid they will not be taken seriously. The phenomenon of victim blaming is at home in Romania,” is shown in another reaction.
Prahova IPJ reaction
Following the wave of reactions, the Prahova County Police Inspectorate sent a press release. According to the institution, on August 23, 2025, the young woman called 112 claiming to be pursued. The police completed the risk assessment form, but did not meet the conditions for issuing a provisional protection order.
The woman was handed over the documentation to request a protection order in court, and the appellant said she had not been the victim of a crime that day. The police specify that on behalf of the man there was already, from September 2024, a protection order issued by the District 3 Bucharest Court, valid 60 days, monitored by IPJ Prahova.
At the same time, the institution shows that in the Bucharest Police Section there is a criminal case for harassment, opened since September 2024, and that the recent documents will be attached to it, according to b1tv.ro. The management of IPJ Prahova has ordered internal checks on the intervention of the agents, with the promise of applying sanctions if irregularities will be identified.
Recently, the young woman announced that she hired a lawyer and asked for a new protection order, this time with electronic monitoring, as well as moral damages. “The true people who have to ask for moral damages are you, the Romanian Police”, she said, ending her message with a quote from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Cătălin Predoiu: “It will still remain on duty. No one has to matter that we will leave the guard down”, confident of the quoted source.
Beyond the discussions on Reddit, in the absence of a firm intervention from the authorities: immediately applied protection orders, retaining aggressors, quickly solved files, the victims remain alone. The fact that the debate moved online, and people find solidarity there, reveals a dangerous gap between the expectations of the society and the reaction of the institutions. Until this gap is reduced, every desperate call remains not only an individual story, but also a symptom of a system weakness.
