21 May Less than 1% of stalking cases are being recorded by the police – Why?
On the eve of national stalking week, the Suzy Lamplugh trust has released a damming report on the Polices efforts in supporting stalking victims.
When we first interviewed Katie it was clear to see the stress she had been put under. As she explained her experience he hands were shaking and her words fell out her mouth disjointed and broken. “Even thinking about it now makes my heart race” she quivered. Katie was a victim of intense stalking over the course of 3 days, her aggressor berated her with over 200 messages in one day and made her afraid to leave her home – although it was over so quick the effects on her mental health have had a much longer lasting effect. To this day she suffers with post-traumatic stress disorder and her ordeal happened three years ago. Katies experience is harrowing, but it is not unique: 700,000 women are stalked every year in England and Wales, according the crime survey.
Social media is connecting the world in an unprecedented way, and now it seems to have become in many cases the stalkers weapon of choice. Although she used to share a class room with her stalker, it was only when the two exchanged heated words on social media that his behaviour became more extreme. After posting a ‘throwback photo’ Katies aggressor commented: “stop living in the past”, which lead to the two of them arguing in the comments section. After this he then proceeded to harass Katie via the sites messenger function. “He was relentless, I wouldn’t reply to a single one, he asked me to tell him that I loved him and to break up with my boyfriend” she told us, “It was 3 days of hell”. Cyber bullying and stalking is a going issue here in the UK; 95% of teens have said they have witnessed online bullying in some form and 25% have said that they have had online incidents that have resulted in face to face confrontation.
It was only on the third day that she felt like she needed to get in contact with the police. “I’ve always had anxiety issues, but this made my brain go on overdrive…I couldn’t think of anything else, I didn’t want to leave my house”. After telling the police about the incident and her anxiety issues they arrived two hours later. Although Katies stalker was putting her under immense stress and had sent hundreds of messages in the space of 24 hours they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him with harassment as he hadn’t said anything threatening. Instead they helped Katie obtain a restraining order against him.
When we spoke to Victoria Charlston from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a leading charity in the support of stalking victims, she told us: “although the Police do an exceptional job where they can, they are failing in some areas”. In an independent investigation carried out by the trust they found that Police forces in the UK only had a record of 8,364 stalking cases which in their opinion still only represents less than 1% of actual stalking cases each year. It also found that one police force only had 30 recorded cases even though they had a population of one million people. Rachel Griffin, the Chief Executive of the Suzy Lamplugh trust wrote:“Our report highlights how vital it is that statutory services are provided with leadership and guidance on stalking. Only with comprehensive stalking training, rolled outnationwide, will victims of stalking get the recognition, understanding and responsiveness they need”
