Commissioners, Costs and Comparisons Impact’s Stalking Investigation Continued

Commissioners, Costs and Comparisons: Impact’s Stalking Investigation

Following on from our previous work, Impact continues its investigation into stalking in Nottinghamshire. This time including responses from Nottingham Police and Crime Commissioner, Caroline Henry, and an account of the shocking ‘cost of stalking’ for a victim.

In March, Impact uncovered that previous Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping had allocated over £80,000 to combat stalking in Nottingham. Speaking with the individual currently in the role, Caroline Henry, Impact were told that the Commissioner was “proud” that funding had been continued for Nottingham’s stalking advocacy service for another year. While exact amounts are still being determined, Commissioner Henry did say that they “have increased the overall amount of funding allocated to the three charities’’ which she argued was “a clear sign of how seriously we are taking stalking” and their “commitment to tackling it”.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the funds they provide will be adequate to support victims of stalking. She also informed us that she has “recently commissioned a victim needs assessment to listen to the views of victims of crime across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and what they would like to see improved”, to shape the support they provide. Nottingham was the first county to categorise misogyny as a hate crime and Caroline Henry believed this has made the police force more effective. She went on to argue that, by making misogyny a hate crime, it “increases women and girls’ trust and confidence in Nottinghamshire Police and sends a clear message that we care about this and will not tolerate it”.

Impact also interviewed the Investigating Safeguarding Stalking Officer, Kate Reece, who provided more details on the Cyber Protect and Prevention officers. She informed us that the cybercrime unit is “aligned to the national cyber 4P strategy: Pursue, Protect, Prevent, Prepare” to tackle crimes including online stalking. She also emphasised the importance of “police and support services such as Women’s Aid, Equation and the non-domestic stalking advocacy service working closely together to build rapport with our victims”. However, while “Stalking Protection Orders were introduced in January 2020 and have been welcomed by the police”, they are not as quick to obtain as other orders due to “‘the criminal standard required”. Reece also argued that because stalking is not explicitly defined by the law it is “open to misinterpretation”. She remarked that “stalking needs to be legally defined, the impact on victims of stalking need to be at the forefront and the criminal justice process for stalking needs to be transparent, consistent and more effective”.

Reece also explained that, when it comes to stalking, the burden to collect evidence is on the victim not on the police. For this reason, she explained, the police “rely heavily on our victims to assist with our investigation”. Yet as we have found in our previous investigation, often the evidence victims collect simply isn’t enough. Furthermore, the cost of collecting such evidence can act as a serious barrier to justice. One of the victims we spoke to, who has been consistently stalked for 12 years, described her struggle with accessing legal support. She told Impact that on reaching out to a solicitor “they [could not] even read the details I provided unless I was prepared to pay £800.” Similarly, another woman shared that her distressing case had led her to well and truly “hit rock bottom” Thankfully, she has a court date set, but the legal costs to progress her case thus far have already reached £5000. Although these two cases are in very different stages, they both present the same major issue: victims are having to fund the process of justice themselves. It appears that being stalked comes with a price tag.

Stalking is, of course, not just a problem in Nottinghamshire. Speaking with Sussex’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, Impact was told about how a rise in stalking in the county led her to introduce new ways to tackle the problem. One element of her programme is education. Bourne pointed out that misogynistic ‘locker room’ culture needs to be addressed before misogynistic attitudes, often a cause of stalking, become entrenched. Bourne has also initiated the ‘Do The Right Thing’ campaign, backed by local celebrities including John Simm and Norman Cook.

Bourne has also ensured that police in Sussex are specially trained in stalking, devising the acronym FOUR to help police recognise that behaviours of stalking are Fixated, Obsessive, Unwanted and Repeated. Bourne has also devised a new risk assessment for victims of stalking, which has been piloted across four police forces so far, in the hope that it will be implemented nationally. In law, Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are important safeguards for victims of stalking. After the Stalking Protection Act 2019 was passed, Sussex was the first force in the country to secure SPOs from the courts, and 44 have been put in place since. Sussex is also trialling a Stalking Perpetrator programme, wherein people who have been given an SPO are given 12 1:1 behavioural therapy sessions, to help them manage the emotions and behaviours that cause harm to others. While a three year pilot scheme is in its early stages, Bourne says that the scheme has been successful so far.

Where Nottingham has kept up with Sussex (the provision of a local stalking advocacy service) important progress has been made. This begs the question, however: why hasn't Nottingham kept up with Sussex in other areas such as education, officer training and perpetrator therapy? It must be recognised that Nottingham does offer more support to stalking victims than many other counties. However, we should be looking forward not backward and in comparison to Sussex, Nottingham’s support undoubtedly has room for improvement.

It is fair to say that Impact’s findings have, yet again, revealed that stalking is a problem that has many layers to it. With the help of stalking victims across the country as well as local authorities, we hope our investigation has been able to begin unravelling these layers. However, in doing so it has become even clearer that there is still a very long way to go.

Change cannot come soon enough.

By Lottie Murray, Laura Scaife and Aidan Hall

Research Team: Ellie Ames, Lauren McGaun, Lottie Murray, Niamh Robinson and Laura Scaife

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