Response to the recommendations made by the IOPC, HMICFRS and the College of Policing following the joint investigation into the super-complaint on the police response to stalking.
| Recommendation: | Force Update: | Action | |
| By 27 March 2025, where required, Police Forces will ensure changes to their crime recording systems to enable staff and officers to document and search for crimes not recorded as the principal crime to ensure stalking and harassment crimes are fully searchable. | 7.1 | City of London Police has good crime recording compliance . All crimes are allocated through the Crime Management Unit who assist identifying and allocating crime including secondary crimes when multiple crimes are reported through a single incident. | ACTION: City of London Police will undergo reality teating to provide reassurance of compliance in recording and ability to search relevant data. This will be overseen by the crime registrar. Any opportunities identified during this review will be implemented to ensure the best possible service can be given to those victims reporting stalking and harassmwnt to the City of London Police and the public have trust and confidence that any such matters will be dealt with to the highest standard . |
| By 27 March 2025 Police Forces will review and update their learning and training provision relating to stalking and harassment. They will ensure our policies and practice are reviewed and updated in accordance with the findings in the super-complaint investigation report. |
10.2 | City of London Police has delivered Domestic Abuse Matters Training to staff, this includes identification of coersive and controlling behaviours existing in relationships and can be associated with incidents of stalking and harassment. Training needs assessments are regularly conducted across specialist investigation teams to ensure all investigators maintgain the skill and capabilities to deal with crimes and reports of this type. | ACTION 1. City of London Police Learning and Organisational Development Team will idnentify further opportunities whereby further relevant training would benefit staff in the identification and furtherence of incidents of stalking and harassment. This will include review of current policies and procedures and identified learnign outcomes for the super-complaint are applied. 2. Further Training needs assessment/skills analysis to be conducted across all frontline policing teams including further assessment of the dedicated specialist resource. |
| By 27 March 2025, Police Forces will make sure that appropriate mechanisms are in place to fully understand the scale and types of stalking behaviour within their force and the effectiveness of the response. This will align with the VAWG national delivery framework. | 11.1 | City of London Police have recently commissioned a deep dive report to explore the context of reporting within it force area. This is due for completion in early 2025. This will allow City of London Police to identify opportunities for prevention activity and assist in protecting victims or furture victims from harm. City of London Police have a dedicated team overseeing the development and application of protective orders - this include SPO 's when applicable. This team works closely with our public protection team on all orders including those whereby are neccessary to be in place to assist in effective management of offenders. City of London Police also works in collaboration with the City of London Corporaion to provide vulnerable victims advocates who will assist in providing a conduit for feedback to the police from its most vulnerable victims. This service remains in place. All this work already links into our wider mprovement delivery across the national VAWG delivery framework athrough our appointed strategic lead. | City of London will conduct a full review on completion of the deep dive report, This will link in with furture planning through the force management statement and assist in understanding any relevant intelligence/information gaps for further development . City of London Polcie will ensure this links into the force control stratgy and our overall appraoch to vulnerability alongside our commitment to the overall delivery of improvements within the Violence Against Women and Girls national work. |
| By 27 March 2025, Police Forces will take steps to make sure that risk identification, assessment and management is effective in all stalking and breaches of orders cases. | 12.1 | City of London Police has a dedicated team to manage ancillary and protective orders. This allows us to repsond effectively to any breaches idenified. Where breaches occur robust action will follow with an understanding on the impact of ongoing risk assessments. | City of London will explore the opportunity of introducing Stalking Screening Tool. They will identify best practice across policing and determine how best to implement here in the City. The work will be overseen by the Head of Public Protection and will be delivered by 27th March 2025. |
| 12.2 | All crimes reported into the City of London Police undergo a risk assessment to determine threat and harm posed. It is mandated that this is completed on every crime and reviewed by a supervisor. A further risk assessment is conducted for those cases whereby domestic abuse is a factor. For reassurance this is currently subject to weekly screening and compliance checks by internal teams which are reported into senior leadership teams across the force. This also includes victims needs assessments and victims code compliance. Further to this there is Quality Assurance Thematic Testing in place which checks the quality of such assessments. Completion and compliance rates are consistently high however ambition is to improve further so we can continue to build victim confidence in reporting. City of London Police works with local children services teams to quality assure on crimes whereby a referral for social care has taken place - this would include those cases of Stalking and Harassment when children are a factor. | City of London Police will further develop these processes and specifically draw out relevant cases of stalking and harassment . This will be conducted by the Head of Public Protection who has governance and leadership across Public Protection Investigaitions and progress will be updated into this action plan no later than March 2025. | |
| By 27 March 2025 Police forces will take steps to make sure that force strategies, structures and processes are in place so that police consider a Stalking Prevention Order (SPO) is considered where neccessary and apply for an SPO where relevant and appropriate to prevent harm and further offending. To achieve this, we will review, and revise policy, guidance and supporting processes where necessary. |
13.1 | City of London Police has a dedicated team to manage ancillary and protective orders. This allows us to repsond effectively to any breaches idenified. Where breaches occur robust action will follow with an understanding on the impact of ongoing risk assessments. | City of London Police will ensure that the opportunity of SPO are considered by frontline staff to assist with the mangement of perpertrators and protect the victims from further harm. This will be supported by the Learning and Organisational Development Team. This will include relevant signposting, guidance policy and procedure being readily available for staff. This will be in place no later than March 2025. |
| Police Forces will ensure stalking victims receive the rights they are entitled to under the victim’s code and have access to support services. | 14.1 | All crime reported into the City of London Police undergo a risk assessment to detremine threat and harm posed. It is mandated that this is completed on everycrime and reviewed by a supervisor. A further risk assessment is ocnducted for thise cases wereby domestic abuse is a factor. For reassurance this is currently subject to weekly screening and complinance checks which are rpeorted into senior leadership teams across the force. This also includes victims needs assessments and victims code complinance. Further to this there is Quality Assurance Thematic Testing in place which checks the quality of such assesments. Completion and compliance rates are consistently high however ambition is to improve further so we can continue to buld victim confidence and confidence in reporting. City of London Police works with local children's services teams to quality assure on crimes whereby a referral for social care has taken place - this would include those cases of Stalking and Harassment where children are a factor. | City of London Police will continue regular reality checking and quality control measures. It will commission a specific piece of work to be undertaken by the Crime Standards group across all matters of Stalking and Harassment and by March 2025 ensure these are reported into the the Strategic Vulnerability Board. |
| Police Forces will work together with their relevant partners to review commissioning arrangements and make changes as soon as possible to ensure they embed collaborative working and information sharing between policing and services providing victim support to stalking victims. | 16.1 | City of London Police are confident that relevant information sharing takes place both with relevant partner agencies and other force areas when approriate. It can be the case that many reporting crime such as this may work or be visiting the City and therefore ongoing risk will need to be managed by other forces. In such cases all relevant information is shared to ensure the best possible risk management plans can be developed and are in place. | By March 2025 City of London Police will review and assure itself that incidents reported to them have been shared with all relevant parties - adopting dare to share principles in relation to all information and intelligence . |
| By 27 March 2025 Police Forces will make sure the new College of Policing investigations APP content on case allocation is reflected in the relevant policies relating to the allocation of stalking and breach of order cases for investigation. | 17.1 | City of London Police are fully committed in adopting the new APP for stalking and harassment. | By March 2025 City of London Police will ensure that all relevant APP is adopted and, where this requires further input to staff, that approriate training is provided. |
| Police Forces will reassure themselves on the quality of stalking investigations by taking a victim centred, suspect focused and context led approach. | 18.1 | City of London Police have a dedicated public protection team. All relevant stalking and harassment crimes will be investigated by them. Utilising this skill and capability ensures that high harm crime types, such as stalking and harassment, are dealt with by specialist trained officers. This ensures a victim centered and suspect focused appraoch in dealing with offences of this type. | City of London Police will continue to ensure that all stalking and harassment investigations are managed by specialist public protection officers. We will conduct relevant reality testing to provide quality assurance and idnetify any gaps in learning. |
| By 27th March 2025 Police Forces will take steps to improve how their force effectively recognises and responds to online elements of stalking. | 20.1 | City of London Police recognise the growing ability in online reports of stalking and harassment. There is a specialist digital exploitation team and high tech crime unit capability to assist in such cases. At the time of writing there are no backlogs reported in the examination of digital devices and good capabilility to respond effectively . There is also a cyber intelligence function within City of London Police. Where it is felt neccessary and appropriate in larger investigations support may be provided should it be felt it has been cyber enabled. Public protection specialists have access and capability to equipment for field downloads on devices which allows evidential downloads of victims phones on scene when appropriate. | City of London Police have developed their service to date to deal with any potential increase in online reporting. This will continue and may be furthered folowing the evaluation of the awaited deep dive report in early 2025. |
| By 27 September 2025, using the information collated by the NPCC lead under recommendation 21, Police Forces will consider whether and how their dedicated Public Protection Teams , or other subject matter experts, can be used to add value and support the force response to stalking. | 22.1 | City of London Police have a dedicated public protection team. All relevant stalking and harassment crimes will be investigated by them. Utilising this skill and capability ensures that high harm crime types, such as stalking and harassment, are dealt with by specialist trained officers. This ensures a victim centered and suspect focused approach in dealing with offences of this type. | City of London Police will continue to ensure that all stalking and harassment investigations are managed by specialist public protection officers. |
| By 27 March 2025, Police Forces will review the mechanisms already in place for early screening of crimes to improve the identification, recording and management of all stalking cases. | 23.1 | City of London Police has good crime recording compliance. All crimes are allocated through the Crime Management Unit who assist identifying and allocating crime including secondary crimes when multiple crimes are reported through a single incident. | ACTION: City of London Police will undergo reality teating to provide reassurance of compliance in recording and ability to search relevant data. This will be overseen by the crime registrar. Any opportunities identified during this review will be implemented to ensure the best possible service can be given to those victims reporting stalking and harassment to the City of London Police and the public have trust and confidence that any such matters will be dealt with to the highest standard . |
| By 27 March 2025, City of London Police will contnue to explore opportunities to improve how their force works with partners to contribute to a multi-agency response to stalking. | 25.1 | Public Protection teams work well with partners across this and other areas of high harm. | City of London Police will continue ot explore opportuities within the Multi Agency Space and continue to improve where such opportunities are identified . This includes workong across agencies to understand any oportunities ot develop best practice identified in other forces such as 'Stalking Clinics' |
| By 22 November 2024 (56 days from publication), write to HMICFRS, the IOPC and the College of Policing setting out their response to the recommendations made to them. Chief constables should direct their response to the NPCC which should provide a collective response on behalf of all police forces. PCCs and their mayor equivalents should direct their response to the APCC which should provide a collective response on their behalf. | 27.1 | ||
| By 22 November 2024 (56 days from publication), publish on their force website an action plan which explains what their force will do in response to each of the recommendations made to them and send the NPCC a link to where this action plan can be found. By 27 March 2025 (six months from publication) provide an update to the NPCC describing the progress they have made against their action plans. |
28.1 |