Norfolk: New Stalking Laws Could Help

8th February 2012, 05:38

Norfolk Police are telling Heart that proposed new laws to protect people from stalking could help them.

There are new proposals being considered to make stalking a specific offence, instead of just including it in current harrasment laws, and also creating a list of known offenders.

If the proposals are adopted there could also be harsher penalties for people found guilty of the offence.

Stalking - Detective Inspector Ross McDermott

DI Ross McDermott said 'The best possible thing people can do is report it to the police as early as possible and make sure that they have a record of any approaches that a person may have made to them.

If we were to separate stalking from harassment and treat it as a more serious offence, then we may be able to tackle it more firmly.

 Because of the increased use of technology, we’ve seen an increase in the abuse of that technology as well.  From this angle, the legislation needs updating with the times.

All forces have been invited to comment on the proposals going before the House of Lords today, which we in Norfolk have taken part in. 

I hope that we do get more stringent powers to assist us in tackling these sorts of offences and, more importantly, to protect the victims of these offences which is absolutely our primary focus.'