New legal powers to protect stalking victims 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.

The power, which can be granted by a civil court to police forces, are designed to allow police to act at the earliest opportunity, and breaching an SPO is a criminal offence that could land you up to five years in prison.

But data shows the use of SPOs, which have been available to police forces in England and Wales since January 2020, varies widely from force to force, with four failing to apply for a single order in the past fifteen months.

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.

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.

And 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%.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Stalking Protection Orders stop perpetrators in their tracks and prevent them contacting victims. We expect police forces to make full use of them.

“The Home Office and College of Policing have worked closely with forces to produce guidance on issuing them.

“Next week, Home Office officials will meet with the police and other stakeholders who work to tackle stalking to set out our findings on how effectively police forces have been using SPOs and discuss how to improve this.”

Lincolnshire Police

The BBC sent requests under the Freedom of Information Act and gathered responses from 41 out of 43 police forces across England and Wales.

No response was received from Lincolnshire Police or North Yorkshire Police.

• According to the data, Lincolnshire Police received 994 reports of stalking in 2020/21.

Of these reports, there were 48 charges in the same period, showing a 4.83% charge rate.

• Lincolnshire Police were approached for comment but failed to respond.