Powers to protect stalking victims not being used by police forces

POWERS to protect victims from stalkers are not being used by Leicestershire Police despite a huge increase in stalking crimes during the pandemic.

Leicestershire Police recorded 1,714 incidents of stalking in the nine months from April to December 2020.

This is a 352% increase from the 379 incidents reported in the 12 months to March 2020.

Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) were introduced in January 2020 and are designed to provide the police with new powers to impose restrictions on stalkers.

Examples of restrictions SPOs could impose on stalkers include banning them from: entering certain locations, using a device that can access the internet (unless the internet history can be stored) and physically approaching or contacting the victim.

SPOs usually remain in place for two years

Leicestershire Police have only applied for seven orders since January 2020. Six SPOs were granted and one was rejected by the courts.

The figures also show just 6% of reported stalking offences led to someone being charged in the nine months to December 2020.

Police forces across England and Wales recorded 59,950 incidents of stalking in the nine months from April to December 2020.

This is almost double the 30,818 incidents that occurred in the year ending March 2020.

More than half of all police forces have seen stalking incidents double over the same time period.

This information comes from responses from 41 out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales to a Freedom of Information request from the BBC’s Shared Data Unit.

However, while many forces are seeing increased incidents, the use of SPOs varies widely.

Four forces (Dorset, Humberside, Suffolk, Thames Valley) failed to apply for a single order in the past 15 months.

Clive Ruggles, whose daughter, Alice Ruggles, was murdered by her stalker in 2017, said he thinks of Alice when thinking about how he felt about some police forces not applying for a single SPO.

He said: “If another Alice came to the police today, would the outcome be different? SPOs could have helped Alice – we’re absolutely convinced of that. But now it just seems like a postcode lottery. We haven’t learned. That is personally distressing for us. We have to make this better.”

Police forces in England and Wales applied for 427 orders since January 2020.

Only 22 applications were rejected by courts, a rejection rate of just over 5% (5.1%).

Of the 427 applications, more than half (214) were made by just four police forces in the south east of England: The Met, Sussex, Kent and Surrey.

Suky Bhaker, CEO of stalking charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust said: “What’s interesting is the data shows a concentration of stalking protection orders being received, where we know that there are specialist service provisions for victims of stalking, or where there has been enhanced training. Particularly in areas like London, or the stalking threat assessment centres in Sussex and Kent.

“That really shows that where there has been training and where there is specialist victim advocacy provision in stalking, there is better support for victims to obtain that stalking protection order.”

While stalking incidents have risen, the national charge rate for stalking offences has fallen from 23% in the year ending March 2016 to just 6% for the nine months ending in December 2020.

These increases in stalking incidents come despite England and Wales being in a lockdown, for a large part of the nine months from April to December 2020.

Lisa King, communications director at domestic violence charity Refuge said: “I think that it is somehow surprising also given that we’ve been in Covid , and we’ve been in lockdown. There has been a restriction on movement.

“It is an indication of how it is so much more technologically enabled now and you can do that at distance, and during the pandemic when we’ve all been locked in and locked up, that is clearly what has been going on all around the country with the numbers reported being so high.”

“The police should have had training during that time to understand how to use those stalking protection orders that are so needed by women, to protect them.”

The Home Office said it is set to meet with police forces to look at ways to improve the use of SPOs.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Stalking Protection Orders stop perpetrators in their tracks and prevent them contacting victims. We expect police forces to make full use of them.

“The Home Office and College of Policing have worked closely with forces to produce guidance on issuing them.

“Home Office officials will meet with the police and other stakeholders who work to tackle stalking to set out our findings on how effectively police forces have been using SPOs and discuss how to improve this.”

If another Alice came to the police today, would the outcome be different? SPOs could have helped Alice – we’re absolutely convinced of that.