National Stalking Awareness Week - Dos and Don'ts

DC Rachel Freeman
Investigator trainer

Hello all,

Let’s move onto the dos and don’ts if you think you’re being stalked. This is not a definitive list but definitely some things to consider.

• DO - report the matter to police.
• DO - contact the National Stalking Helpline for advice and support.
• DO - let others know about what’s going on.
• DO - keep records of what has been happening.
• DO - change your passwords regularly. This can be particularly important if the stalker is an ex-partner who may know your commonly used passwords.
•  DO NOT - ignore it and hope it will go away. Research has demonstrated the persistence of stalkers. 
• DO NOT - meet up with a stalker. This could put you at risk of harm, even if you know them. It may also be possible that other people try to make something of the fact that you have met them, jumping to the wrong conclusion.
• DO NOT - delete messages/voicemails or throw away items you may have been sent – these may be able to be used as evidence. The Criminal Justice System requires evidence and often what you think is irrelevant might be important.
• NOTE: If you are reading this and have already discarded evidence, don’t worry - it is still important to report the matter and there may be other ways to capture evidence. 
• DO NOT - isolate yourself by withdrawing from using social networking sites, phones or e-mail. 
• DO NOT - engage family, friends or anyone else to ‘have a word’ with the stalker. It is rare that such encounters are productive and they can make matters much worse. It might be possible that an offender can use such incidents to make counter allegations.
• DO NOT - listen to yourself or others when they try to minimise what is happening to you. Stalking is serious and blights people’s lives.
• DO NOT - immediately change your status on Facebook or other social networking sites if you have just finished a relationship. If the stalker is an ex-partner this can sometimes make things worse.

What not to say to a victim of stalking
People with good intentions can sometimes give advice or make well-meaning comments to victims with detrimental side effects. Here are some of the most common mentioned to advisors at the National Stalking Helpline:

‘You’re being a bit dramatic aren’t you?’, ‘Are you sure you’re not being a bit paranoid?’, ‘I wish I had a stalker’, ‘If they were going to harm you they would have done it already’, ‘If you didn’t look at the stuff, it wouldn’t upset you’

If someone you know talks to you about a situation that is worrying them, it will probably have taken a lot of courage to do so. Try to support them, remember what you’ve read this week and encourage them to come forward so police can investigate.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel

National Stalking Awareness Week - what to do if you think you may be a victim

DC Rachel Freeman
Investigator trainer

Hello again,

Would you know what to do if you are suffering at the hands of a stalker? If the honest answer is no, please keep reading. If the answer was yes, humour me and keep reading as well – there may be something you find useful.

Being stalked or harassed can be extremely alarming and frightening. It is the repetition of the behaviour that makes it even more sinister. Recent advice issued for victims is summed up using the mnemonic REPORT* – hopefully this makes it a little easier to remember.

•    REPORT IT AND TELL OTHERS - contact the police and talk to your family and friends.

•    ENSURE YOU GET GOOD ADVICE - talk to people with experience of this issue -  call the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 8020 300 or visit www.stalkinghelpline.org

•    Be PROACTIVE – keep all messages, gifts, communications, letters, and preserve them. If you are followed in a car, drive through an area where you know there are CCTV cameras. I must stress however that if you feel in immediate danger you should try to find somewhere safe and call 999 immediately.

•    OVERVIEW: KEEP A DIARY - log what is happening including the time, date and details. Once again, it must be stressed, if you feel you are in immediate danger, the diary is no substitute for calling the police on 999.

•    RISK CHECKLIST – once reported, the police will usually ask you questions in order to complete a risk screening checklist. If you think you are at risk, and a checklist has not already been completed, you can download and complete your own. Once completed, pass this to the police for them to consider.

•    TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS AND NEVER MAKE CONTACT WITH YOUR STALKER - if you are frightened or worried, call 999 and go to a safe place. It is advised that victims do not contact or respond to a stalker in any other way. 
    
In my next blog, we’ll look at the do’s and don’ts, the common misconceptions about stalking and advice on what not to say to someone if they think they’re being stalked.

Rachel

*Information reproduced courtesy of Laura Richards. For further information about about her work on stalking and domestic abuse, visit www.laurarichards.co.uk

National Stalking Awareness Week - the law

DC Rachel Freeman
Investigator trainer

Hi again, hope you’re all having a good day. 

Today I'm going to talk about the specific law that covers stalking offences.

Before 1997 no specific laws existed to protect someone if they were harassed or stalked. Both police and prosecutors had to rely on a few existing laws to try and bring offenders to justice. That meant some offenders were charged with ‘psychological’ assault. When in court, prosecutors had to prove that the assault caused some appreciable psychological harm, which wasn’t always easy.

Many felt that the existing laws did not protect people enough, and as a result the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 was passed.

This Act was later criticised because of its tendency to deal with more minor incidents so on 25 November 2012, specific stalking offences were added.

If you want to read more about the legislation itself, the Crown Prosecution Service has more information.

Harassment covers two separate offences:

•    'causing alarm or distress'
•    'putting people in fear of violence'.

These offences are subject to a course of conduct, which simply means there must have been at least two incidents. If there haven’t been two or more incidents already, police can consider using, where appropriate, existing offences and/or a warning to the offender. 

Harassment can mean an unwelcome verbal or written communication, sexual harassment, racially/religiously aggravated harassment, psychological harassment, threats and damage to property.

The new stalking offences sit on top of the two harassment offences I’ve just mentioned. The Act now lists the following, although not exhaustive, as a number of behaviours associated with stalking:

•    following a person
•    contacting or attempting to contact by any means
•    publishing material relating to the victim or seemingly by the victim
•    loitering in any place
•    interfering with any property in possession of someone
•    watching or spying on a person
•    monitoring that person using electronic communication

Importantly, the new section creates TWO offences relating to stalking. Where stalking which by its nature causes the victim to fear violence and; when stalking causes someone serious alarm or distress that has a substantial effect on their day-to-day lives, for example changing jobs, changing routines, moving house and so on. 

In my next blog I’ll be providing some advice if you think you may be the victim of a stalker.

Goodbye for now.
Rachel

National Stalking Awareness Week - help is available.

DC Rachel Freeman
Investigator trainer

Hello there,

I’m Detective Constable Rachel Freeman, one of Kent Police's trainers. I regularly work with officers to make sure they are up to speed on the latest legislation so they can better support victims of crime.

I will be publishing a series of blogs every day this week – National Stalking Awareness Week – to help you understand the issues involved around stalking. So if you feel you may be a victim, or know a victim, I hope this will help.

Here’s an idea of what I’ll be covering this week.

I’ll let you know about the current stalking and harassment laws, explaining them as straightforwardly as I can so you know how we can help, and understand the support that is available for victims.

Over the course of the week I’ll also post about what to do if you think you may be suffering at the hands of a stalker, things you shouldn’t do and why, information about diary logs as well as looking at the different types of stalking, such as digital and cyber stalking. 

Whether you think you may be a victim of stalking or have never experienced it, please keep reading. It might be that a family member, friend or even a colleague experiences it in the future. Hopefully you’ll feel better placed to help someone find the courage they need to come forward to the police and get the help they need.

Any victim of stalking will tell you how distressing this type of offending is - and no one should have to deal with it on their own.

If my work this week gives at least one victim the confidence to come forward then it will have been worthwhile.

Until my next post, why not watch this video on stalking from the Suzy Lamplaugh Trust, the UK’s personal safety charity.

Thanks for reading… stay tuned.