In May 2021, the 大象传媒 Shared Data Unit worked with Newsbeat and 大象传媒 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 Home Office said it would meet with police chiefs to review their use of the orders.
Method
The 大象传媒 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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Home 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 大象传媒 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 大象传媒 font, home and UK pages. It was also used by regional 大象传媒 radio stations including:
- 大象传媒 Radio Humberside
- 大象传媒 Radio Somerset
- 大象传媒 Radio Kent
- 大象传媒 Radio Cornwall
- 大象传媒 Radio Devon
- 大象传媒 Radio Suffolk
- 大象传媒 Radio Nottingham
- 大象传媒 Radio Somerset
- 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire
- 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside
- 大象传媒 Radio Devon
- 大象传媒 Radio Wiltshire
- 大象传媒 Radio Bristol
- 大象传媒 Radio York
- 大象传媒 Radio Leeds
- 大象传媒 Radio Newcastle
- 大象传媒 Radio Kent
- 大象传媒 Radio Sussex
- 大象传媒 Radio Norfolk
- 大象传媒 Radio Berkshire
- 大象传媒 Radio Humberside
- 大象传媒 Radio Jersey
- 大象传媒 Radio Gloucestershire
- 大象传媒 Radio Essex
- 大象传媒 Radio Surrey
- 大象传媒 Radio London
大象传媒 regional television channels including:
- South East Today
- South Today
- Look North
- 大象传媒 Wales
And 大象传媒 network radio programmes including:
- The World at One
- 6 Music
- News Channel
- Newsbeat
- Asian Network
- Radio2
- Woman鈥檚 Hour