National Stalking Awareness Week

This week is National Stalking Awareness Week. Stalking and Harassment are particularly destructive, and I’ve listened to some appalling accounts from victims about the impact it has had on them. I know too that thousands of you would have seen this issue tackled extremely capably and sensitively by the UK’s longest running soap opera - Coronation Street.

It’s incredibly important that such awareness is raised and that more people know what stalking is and what action can be taken against it.

Here in Dorset, I have ensured that there is a priority in my Police and Crime Plan that ‘Puts Victims First’, ensuring that they are at the centre of our thinking when tackling crimes like stalking and that’s why my office commissions the ‘You Trust’ to provide an Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker (ISAC) service. This is an important role that delivers support to victims of stalking by guiding them through the criminal justice system and providing advice.

Navigating the criminal justice system and taking legal action can be a daunting process, so in the hope of shedding some light on the advice available to victims as well as how the process works, I have invited CPS Wessex’s Stalking Lead and District Crown Prosecutor, Kate Lewis, to talk more about the subject in this week’s Newsletter.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

Meet Kate Lewis, District Crown Prosecutor and CPS Wessex Stalking Lead

During National Stalking Awareness Week, we are joining the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner in raising awareness of stalking behaviours and the work we are doing to ensure offenders are brought to justice.

We know that stalking can have a devastating and long-lasting impact on victims, which is why it is so important to me that we work with the police under our joint protocol to identify stalking behaviours at the earliest opportunity.

Stalking cases are becoming increasingly prevalent, but we are working tirelessly to provide victims with the greatest possible protection from repeat offending.

As the Stalking Lead for CPS Wessex, I provide expert legal advice on stalking cases and work with the police to identify offending behaviours and build robust cases from the start.

I also work with the police to deliver joint training on stalking and harassment for police officers and prosecutors – this is particularly important because offending can take many forms and with advances in technology there are even more avenues for abusers to take to target victims.

As part of a multi-agency approach, CPS Wessex supports a stalking clinic in Dorset every month where we provide expert legal advice at the earliest opportunity to identify stalking offences, support early interventions and provide advice on case strategies to ensure sufficient evidence is gathered by the police.

The clinic brings together representatives from the CPS, police, health, probation and victim advocates from stalking charities to understand the motivations for the stalking behaviour and produce an individual risk assessment and management plan, whilst keeping the victim at the heart of the process.

We also have a really robust approach to the scrutiny of our prosecutions. We regularly feature stalking and harassment cases at our Violence against Women and Girls Scrutiny Panel, where our independent panel members are invited to provide feedback on recently prosecuted cases so that we can identify and share best practice and lessons learnt.

We take these offences very seriously and I would urge anyone experiencing repeated behaviour indicative of stalking, to have the confidence to come forward and report it to the police.

You can find out more about stalking and harassment in our legal guidance, including information on special measures that can be put in place to ensure victims feel supported to give their best evidence at court.