Hello
The theme of this year’s Stalking Awareness Week is ‘Health Response: Spotting Stalking’, which urges healthcare workers to recognise victims of stalking. The week provides an opportunity to highlight how specialist stalking services can work with the healthcare sector to recognise victims of stalking and ensure they access the support they need – whether they are patients or members of staff themselves.
Any fixated and unwanted behaviour can be classed as stalking. If someone’s behaviour is making you uncomfortable, scared or threatened, report it to the police.
Stalking is a calculated crime carried out by people wanting to manipulate, control and instil fear in their victims. It is often complex and continues for a long period of time before the victim reports to the police so, without robust and meaningful intervention, a perpetrator’s fixated and relentless behaviour often causes devastation.
It has always been clear to me that, if you don’t understand something, you cannot tackle it effectively which is why, in 2019, I commissioned an expert-led report that outlined how to further improve Sussex’s response to stalking. The next year, Sussex Police successfully secured the very first Stalking Protection Orders in the country.
Later that year, I was delighted to be awarded nearly £100,000 by the Government to establish a pioneering intervention programme to change stalking behaviour. The initiative was the first of its kind locally and nationally, with perpetrators of stalking participating in twelve, intensive one-to-one sessions where their cases were forensically dissected and future focus placed on maintaining non-offending behaviour.
Today, the programme continues to deliver outstanding results. In the last year, of the 15 participants who completed the intensive programme, 90% of the perpetrators have committed no further stalking-related offences.
In Sussex, we are also lucky to have a dedicated advocacy service called Veritas Justice. They offer so much more than just a support service and are often described by victims and survivors as a lifeline. It is my privilege to be able to financially support the amazing team at Veritas - their work, alongside the ongoing and diligent efforts of Sussex Police, means that stalking is taken very seriously in our county.
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