Bedfordshire Police urge victims of stalking to come forward
The act may not be a crime but is stalking behaviour
Potential stalking victims are being encouraged to contact Bedfordshire Police.
Last year Stalking Protection Order were introduced as a means of early police intervention to prevent stalking behaviour escalating.
Stalking behaviour could be a range of things, however it is actions that are fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated.
The individual acts themselves are often not crimes, however looked at together they are part of a criminal act.
In February Bedfordshire Police issued their first SPO against a man from Luton, after he had repeatedly visited the victim's home address over a period of five months and attempted to contact her numerous times, even after being asked to stop.
He had developed a fixation for the victim, despite not even knowing her name and in August last year he called police saying he was concerned for the woman's welfare when she wasn't picking up the phone.
When officers attended his behaviour caused some suspicion and when they got in touch with the woman confirmed she was safe and well and the man had been continuously contacting her against her wishes.
Detective Inspector Katherine Rivers, the force's lead on stalking and harassment, said:
"This is Bedfordshire Police's first Stalking Protection Order (SPO) since the legislation came into effect last year and provides interim protection for anyone who believes they are being targeted by stalking behaviour.
"Such obsessive and often disturbing behaviour can have an extremely negative impact on the victim and result with severe, long lasting trauma.
"Stalking in particular is linked to some of the highest harm crimes, including domestic abuse, sexual offences, and even murder and it is vital we take steps to halt offender actions and protect victims."
The Luton man has been given an SPO for a period of 10 years, breach of this can result in arrest and imprisonment.