Stalking is a pattern of unwanted, repeated behaviour that causes its victim to feel distressed or scared, and it can occur with or without a fear of violence. It may consist of behaviours such as making malicious or unwanted communication, regularly sending gifts or flowers, causing damage to property, and sexual or physical assault. It’s common for stalking to have a significant emotional impact on victims, leading to feelings of depression, anxiety and even post-traumatic stress disorder.
Criminal Law and Stalking
Since November 2012 stalking has been recognized as a specific criminal offence, via amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The kinds of behaviours that comprise stalking, according to these amendments, include (but are not limited to) loitering, monitoring, publishing material concerning the victim, contacting, watching, spying and interfering with property.
Exploring the Impact of Police Interventions
In 2023 a thesis was published online by James Senior entitled Non-Domestic Stalking: An exploration of the impact of policing interventions that assesses how policing interventions are used (and how effective they are) in tackling non-domestic stalking, taking as a case study one police force area in the UK. The research discovered that about half the stalkers assessed were not deterred in their behaviour by warnings from police officers, with some offenders immediately continuing their stalking behaviour after receiving a warning. The thesis also found that female stalkers, older stalkers and those that stalk their neighbours were most consistent in their behaviour.
It was concluded that obtaining a restraining order or arresting or imprisoning a stalker was associated with lower rates of continued stalking behaviour in comparison to cases where police warnings were issued or no action was taken. Furthermore, it was found that the complexity of investigating stalking creates a challenge for frontline police officers.
How Stalking Should be Reported
There are several different ways that victims can report stalking to the police. If the victim is in immediate danger, i.e. a crime is in progress or has just taken place, an emergency call to 999 should be made.
Stalking can be reported online using the police’s online crime reporting service, following which a police officer will make contact. Alternatively, a victim can telephone the non-emergency number 101 to talk about what’s happened and obtain advice or may visit a police station in person, where they will be provided with a safe and comfortable environment.
Take a look at the embedded PDF for more information about stalking.