A decade on from stalking legislation becoming law, police are failing to understand and implement it, leaving many victims unprotected. That’s the complaint of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity, on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium, that has launched a super-complaint against the police in England and Wales.
The Consortium is 21 groups and bodies to do with stalking including frontline services, victims and academics. It suggests there are deep-rooted systemic issues across police forces that are putting many victims at risk. Only one in 20, 5pc of reports of stalking to the police in the year ending March 2022 resulted in a charge by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The Consortium suggests that in many cases police are failing to identify stalking behaviours as a course of conduct at an early stage, leading to mischarging by the CPS.
Issues of concern include a lack of understanding among officers as to what behaviours constitute stalking, as well as treating behaviours as single incidents as opposed to recognising a wider pattern of behaviour. It is common for the crime to be investigated as a ‘lower-level’ offence, such as malicious communications or criminal damage, or to be misidentified as harassment, thus setting a course for an incorrect pathway through the criminal justice system.
Where stalking is identified, too often police are not investigating appropriately, erroneously dropping cases due to a perceived lack of evidence; for example, incidents of unwanted online behaviour such as the use of social media, emails and phone calls. In the year ending March 2022, a quarter of all stalking reports were dropped due to issues relating to evidence, in cases where the suspect had been identified and where the victim supported action.
The detrimental psychological impact on the victim is often not recognised; nor is the risk of homicide in stalking cases. Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs), designed to protect victims while evidence is collated for a prosecution, are often not put in place. The Consortium has made several recommendations:
– The College of Policing must mandate that all officers that deal with cases of stalking complete training by a specialist stalking training provider, in order to adequately identify, investigate and risk assess cases of stalking;
– Police must work with the Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office, Ministry of Justice and National Probation Service to implement a unified recording system which allows one to follow the journey of a victim through the criminal justice system, and track attrition rates from reporting stage through to conviction, including sentencing;
– Police forces should consider investment in improving digital evidence retrieval for cyberstalking (such as online spyware and hacking);
– SPOs should be applied for at the earliest opportunity that best protects the victim – a maximum of 4 weeks between recognising the need for an SPO and its application; meanwhile an interim SPO should be put in place within 48 hours of a report by a victim or the arrest of perpetrator, with the victim’s consent;
– Police must treat two or more breaches of any order (including a Stalking Protection Order, Restraining Order, Non-Molestation Order or bail conditions) as a separate offence of stalking as set out in the CPS Guidance; and
– Any statutory guidance on the police response to stalking (including guidance on the identification and investigation of stalking) should be developed with the National Stalking Consortium.
Comments
Katy Bourne, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) is National Stalking Lead, for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC). She said: “It is disappointing that, after ten years of stalking legislation, the law and all the tools available to police are not being used consistently or to their fullest extent. Almost every week we hear about victims of stalking saying they reported incidents to police repeatedly but they did not receive an appropriate response.
“Stalking is still, it seems, a Cinderella crime for some forces. For too many police officers, it fails to register as a serious pattern of obsessive and corrosive behaviour that ruins lives and can end up with fatal consequences.
“Although there are beacons of good and even excellent practice across the country, victims of stalking often face a postcode lottery as to whether they will be listened to and protected. The police need to ensure that they are proactive at all times in regards to stalking so victims feel confident enough to report the horrors they are enduring and our criminal justice system needs to work harder to secure more convictions.
“I fear that, without change, more and more victims will fall silent due to lack of confidence in the police and the wider criminal justice system. My earnest hope also is that victims of stalking will not have their confidence in authorities shaken as an unintended consequence of this Super Complaint. We do not want them to be deterred from reporting in the first instance.”
