In May 2021, the 成人快手 Shared Data Unit worked with Newsbeat and 成人快手 Radio Wales to report on new stalking laws that were not being used by all police forces in the country to protect victims.
Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are a civil power available to police which impose restrictions on suspected stalkers.
But data showed the use of SPOs, which had been available to police forces in England and Wales since January 2020, varied widely from force to force, with four failing to apply for a single order in the previous fifteen months.
We also analysed which showed the number of stalking incidents recorded by police had surged in the previous five years, with more than half of all police forces in England and Wales seeing stalking incidents double since 2019.
The 成人快手 Office said it would meet with police chiefs to review their use of the orders.
Method
The 成人快手 Shared Data Unit 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 or North Yorkshire Police.
We asked how many SPOs each force had applied for since January 2020, how many SPOs had been rejected by the courts and how many had been accepted. We also asked how many orders were in the process of being heard by the courts.
Using police recorded crime and outcomes open data (available here), we analysed the number of stalking incidents recorded by each police force since 2015/16.
The latest data available covers the nine-month period between April 2020 and December 2020. We also used the same outcomes data to calculate a charge rate per year for every police force in England and Wales.
Data and sources
The data and background methodology released to partners are available here:
Interviews and quotes
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Clive Ruggles - father of Alice Ruggles who was murdered by her stalker in 2017
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Lisa King - communications director at domestic violence charity Refuge
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Suky Bhaker - CEO of stalking charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust
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Katy Bourne - Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner and stalking victim
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成人快手 office comment
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The National Police Chief's Council comment
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Comments from police forces who hadn鈥檛 issued any SPOs before the date specified in column G of our spreadsheet:
- Humberside
- Thames Valley
- Dorset
- Suffolk
Partner usage
The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to the wider news industry as part of the 成人快手 Local News Partnership. Stories written by partners based on this research included:
- Bradford Telegraph & Argus: 17 June 2021
- Cambridgeshire Live: 22 June 2021
- Cheshire Live: 21 June 2021
- Denbighshire Free Press: 26 June 2021
- Derby Telegraph: 15 June 2021
- Devon Live: 15 June 2021
- Dorset Echo: 15 June 2021
- East Anglian Daily Time 15 June 2021
- Eastern Daily Press: 16 June 2021
- Gelding Eye: 16 June 2021
- Hampshire Chronicle: 15 June 2021
- Huddersfield Daily Examiner: 15 June 2021
- Ipswich Star: 15 June 2021
- ITV Tyne Tees: 15 June 2021
- Lancashire Telegraph: 15 June 2021
- Northampton Chronicle: 16 June 2021
- Southern Daily Echo: 15 June 2021
- Suffolk News: 15 June 2021
- Yorkshire Evening Post: 15 June 2021
- Yorkshire Live: 15 June 2021
- Yorkshire Post: 15 June 2021
The story featured on the 成人快手 font, home and UK pages. It was also used by regional 成人快手 radio stations including:
- 成人快手 Radio Humberside
- 成人快手 Radio Somerset
- 成人快手 Radio Kent
- 成人快手 Radio Cornwall
- 成人快手 Radio Devon
- 成人快手 Radio Suffolk
- 成人快手 Radio Nottingham
- 成人快手 Radio Somerset
- 成人快手 Radio Shropshire
- 成人快手 Radio Merseyside
- 成人快手 Radio Devon
- 成人快手 Radio Wiltshire
- 成人快手 Radio Bristol
- 成人快手 Radio York
- 成人快手 Radio Leeds
- 成人快手 Radio Newcastle
- 成人快手 Radio Kent
- 成人快手 Radio Sussex
- 成人快手 Radio Norfolk
- 成人快手 Radio Berkshire
- 成人快手 Radio Humberside
- 成人快手 Radio Jersey
- 成人快手 Radio Gloucestershire
- 成人快手 Radio Essex
- 成人快手 Radio Surrey
- 成人快手 Radio London
成人快手 regional television channels including:
- South East Today
- South Today
- Look North
- 成人快手 Wales
And 成人快手 network radio programmes including:
- The World at One
- 6 Music
- News Channel
- Newsbeat
- Asian Network
- Radio2
- Woman鈥檚 Hour