National Stalking Awareness week

Message from Humberside Police:

Last week was National Stalking Awareness Week, a week dedicated to highlighting the impact and seriousness of stalking, to encourage victims to come forward and seek help. 

To help our communities understand a bit more about stalking and how we investigate it, we had a chat with Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Roworth from our Safeguarding Governance Unit, who is also the Stalking lead for the force. We asked her all about stalking and what people should do if they are victims.

Q: Firstly, what is stalking?

A: Stalking is defined as fixated, obsessive, and repeated unwanted behaviour that causes a person to feel scared or distressed.

There are a whole range of different scenarios that would be classed as stalking, and it doesn’t always have to involve someone being violent towards you. It can also involve someone paying you persistent and unwanted attention or contact.

There are many different forms that stalking can take, including: following, contacting, publishing material relating to the victim, monitoring, loitering, interfering with property, watching, or spying, unwanted contact on social media and sending gifts.

Q: So, it’s not just someone following you wherever you go?

A: Absolutely not, in fact in some cases the victims have never even met their stalker.

There are many different types of stalkers, for some it is an ex-partner who does not wish to accept the relationship has ended.

Other reports involve stalkers that believe that they are in a fictional pseudo relationship with their victim.   In these cases, the victim can be anyone that they may have had contact with, this could be people online or who they have met within their daily lives. 

We see some cases where stalkers do not have the skills to pursue and maintain a relationship but do so anyway. They are usually resentful and often target a professional who they feel are to blame for everything that has gone wrong for them.

The final type of stalker is the cyber stalker who uses the internet to carry out their unwanted advances. This type of stalking can also involve identify theft, posting false profiles, provoking others to attack the victim or sending direct threats through email and messages and social media.

Q: Why is it so important that people report cases?

A: Whatever form it takes, stalking can have a huge impact on the lives of victims. Studies have found that many victims will suffer between 70 and 100 incidents before seeking professional help. This is due to victims not fully recognising this as stalking or they minimise it.  For some this means that they are being targeted every single day by their tormentor.

In some cases, the stalker may even commit other offences, such as criminal damage, malicious communications, or identity theft.

But there is help available. We take all reports of stalking incredibly seriously and we have specially trained officers that work with victims to help make sure they are safe and to take offenders off our streets.

Q: What happens when a report is made?

A: When we receive a report, we will send an officer to see you and record the details, your report will then be allocated an investigator.

Officers from the team would then begin to carry out investigations, gathering evidence and speaking to those involved to understand the wider picture of the report.

Where appropriate, we would then arrest the suspect and put the case before the Crown Prosecution Service to review and authorise the relevant charges.

If you are reporting another offence that has been committed as part of the stalking (such as criminal damage) it is really important that you mention to the call handler that you think the person is stalking you. This will help the report come through to the right team so that we can piece together all the information to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what is going on and the extent of the crimes.

In some cases, victims do not wish to go to court and just want the behaviour to stop there are Stalking Protection Orders that can be applied for, through the police to the courts to seek one on behalf of the victim.  The victim does not have to go to court for this if they do not wish to the police officer can provide the evidence.

Q: What should people do if they are being stalked or have concerns that a loved one is being stalked?

A: I would encourage any victims to always report it to us. We will listen to you; we will believe you and we will help you. You can do this by calling our non-emergency 101 line. If you are in immediate danger or there is a crime ongoing always call 999. 

Alternatively, The National Stalking Helpline is the first dedicated information and advice service for people affected by stalking or harassment. Helpline staff can provide practical advice to people about personal safety, how to collect evidence and what to do about different stalking behaviours. You can call them on 0808 202 0300, email them at advice@stalkinghelpline.org, or visit their website for more information: www.stalkinghelpline.org.