Stalking offences in Essex have risen 130% this year despite new laws in place to protect people
The new laws are supposed to make it easier to place restrictions on suspected stalkers.
Last updated 15th Jun 2021
Stalking offences are on the rise, yet legal powers to protect stalking victims are not being used by all police forces.
Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are a new civil power available to police which impose restrictions on suspected stalkers. They are designed to make it easier to curb the behaviour of stalkers, with a lower burden of proof required than for a criminal conviction.
But the use of SPOs, which have been available to police since January 2020, varies widely from force to force, with six failing to apply for a single order in the past 15 months.
Essex Police: “Incidents involving stalking victims are recorded in the most serious crime category"
In Essex, only 12 SPOs have been applied for since they were introduced.
Essex Police say they take these crimes very seriously and officers are encouraged to issue SPOs where appropriate.
They said: “Stalking Protection Orders (SPO) are just one of a number options available to us and the courts to protect victims, with others including non-molestation orders and strict bail conditions on an offender.
“In many cases, these other measures will provide victims with protection from an offender and SPOs are often considered if further safeguarding is needed.
“Incidents involving stalking victims are recorded in the most serious crime category and we have specialist officers who support victims and investigate crimes."
How this compares to the rest of the UK
In England, just 294 orders have been granted since January 2020, despite more than 55,000 stalking incidents being recorded by police in the nine months to December 2020 alone.
And in Wales, only two orders were granted despite more than 4,000 stalking incidents recorded in the same period.
Meanwhile national crime outcomes data shows the number of stalking incidents recorded by police has surged since 2019.
The latest figures show 59,950 incidents were recorded across England and Wales in the nine months between April and December 2020 – almost double the annual number of incidents for the year ending March 2020.
And more than half of all police forces have seen stalking incidents double over the same time period, with two seeing an increase of more than 500%, and five more seeing the number of outcomes recorded more than triple.
While the national charge rate for stalking offences is at its lowest point for five years, falling from 23% in 2015/16 to just 6% for the nine months to December 2020. The lowest charge rate by any force is 2%.
Essex Police added: “We have seen a rise in reports of stalking and harassment across the country, and Essex is no different.
“This is largely due to changes in the way these offences are recorded by police forces nationally, which came into effect in 2019, but also because victims also have increased confidence in reporting crimes such as these.
“All investigating officers are trained to consider an SPO at the beginning of any stalking investigation.”