ABSTRACT This study addresses police officers’ identification of vulnerable victims and responses to these victims. Using an Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) approach, police officers (n = 51) responded to two scenarios regarding a victim who reported either a property crime or a stalking incident. After hearing each scenario, participants judged whether the victim was vulnerable or not and discussed which they would propose any protection measures. Findings showed that a majority of the participants identified the victim as vulnerable. Participants mainly based their judgements on indicators related to the incident or its consequences. Regardless of their judgement, participants proposed a variety of protection measures. Both this finding and the majority of vulnerability judgements suggest that police officers may act out of the principle of ‘better safe than sorry’.