Safety of Women at Night scheme.

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
https://www.expressandstar.com/news...ng-stafford-a-safer-place-for-women-at-night/

More than £40,000 to be spent on making Stafford a safer place for women at night​

By Kerry AshdownStafford
Published: Just now
More than £40,000 is set to be spent on making Stafford a safer place for women at night.
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Stafford's Market Square

Stafford's Market Square
A map of safe spaces in the town centre is to be created, while a vehicle managed by Stafford Street Pastors will provide a haven for people feeling vulnerable at night.
Two taxi marshalls will be employed on Saturday nights between 9pm and 4am to help people get home safely.
The measures are being funded by the Home Office through the Safety of Women at Night scheme. Stafford Borough Community Wellbeing Partnership (CWP) is overseeing work locally to prevent violence against women and girls.
A report to Stafford Borough Council’s cabinet said: “Women and girls are disproportionately affected by certain crime types; for example they are four times more likely than men to experience a sexual assault. Women and girls have also been found to suffer high levels of sexual and verbal harassment.
“The tragic killing of Sarah Everard brought to the forefront concerns about woman and girls’ safety in public places. Following the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Crime and Justice Taskforce (CJTF) on 15 March 2021, the Government announced immediate steps to protect women and girls in public spaces, including the rollout of initiatives to improve the safety of women in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy.
The CWP has been allocated £20,000 for safe routes. £17,000 for safe places and £5,000 for taxi marshals. As part of safe routes the CWP will develop a map of the town centre with Stafford Borough Council’s graphic designer highlighting premises that operate during the evening and places of safety including the taxi rank.

“A vehicle is being purchased for the safe space element of the bid and this will be managed by the Stafford Street Pastors. It will be located within the town centre of an evening and used as a place of safety.

“Whilst some districts have looked at renting an empty shop unit, this did not seem a sustainable option for Stafford and the cost involved in insurances and rent alone was too great. The street pastors will be able to offer, warm drinks, advice and guidance and will be able to request assistance from other agencies if required to attend the vehicle.
“Staffordshire Womens Aid and Resolv will inform the messaging of a safety plan for getting home. This will be shared via social media, within the college and sixth forms and within the town centre.
“Hollie Guard (a personal safety app) will be more widely promoted by the CWP, personal alarms, torches and drink spiking prevention tools will be distributed. A webinar will be produced to educate workers within the night time economy how to identify vulnerable persons and how to assist them safely on the route home.”

Stafford Borough Council’s deputy leader Jeremy Pert told fellow cabinet members at their latest meeting of the work taking place locally to boost safety at night. He also spoke of raising awareness of behaviour that may make other members of the public feel unsafe, such as inappropriate comments.
He said: “I was in London and a poster caught my eye – I thought it was a really brave and challenging poster and made me consider some of the things we all might inadvertently do that make other people feel uncomfortable, uneasy and unsafe. That might be something like walking at the same speed as someone else but on their shoulder or telling a risky joke that you’ve heard somewhere else and probably wasn’t an appropriate thing to say or do.
“The tragic killing of Sarah Everard last year has brought to the forefront concerns about the safety of women and girls in public places. It would be very easy to say that something like the murder of Sarah was an isolated incident, but you could then talk about Sabina Nessa or Bobbi-Anne McLeod (who were also murdered in 2021).

“I think it is really appropriate that we consider how everyone in our communities feels. And so putting in safe spaces for people – and for women in particular – is a really positive step.
“Some of the initiatives we are jointly putting in with the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner include taxi marshals, safe routes and safe spaces for women to follow and be able to go to. I think it ensures everyone in our community feels safe and that’s really important.
“It also allows us to start to have a different discussion about what is and isn’t appropriate within our communities. Having that brave conversation is important.”
 

DoggedWalker

Well-Known Forumite
Perhaps a slightly controversial take but;

I’m pretty sure it’s men who are less safe than women at night in the town centre. Admittedly that’s almost certainly because of other men, but still.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
This is great. I sometimes work late at night in the town, & it can be very disconcerting to have to walk on your own to a private car park in the dark. Nevermind to be out in town, and have the same issues.

@DoggedWalker mens issues can be very different from women's.
 

PeterD

ST16 Represent.
Perhaps a slightly controversial take but;

I’m pretty sure it’s men who are less safe than women at night in the town centre. Admittedly that’s almost certainly because of other men, but still.
This is whataboutery and so not needed. Men are the issue regardless of who the victim is but if I had a son instead of a daughter I would be more confident of his safety if alone at night than hers.
Obviously the best way to tackle women's safety is to get to the perpetrators early, parents and friends educate these people, sadly it isn't happening even with the red flags being displayed, so anything that can be done to protect females is a positive. I repeat though, the issue is the men, not women.
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
This is great. I sometimes work late at night in the town, & it can be very disconcerting to have to walk on your own to a private car park in the dark. Nevermind to be out in town, and have the same issues.

@DoggedWalker mens issues can be very different from women's.
I cannot walk home from work along an open route. It's impossible. There's nooks and crannies where someone could be stood. Wouldn't see them till it was too late.
Perhaps a slightly controversial take but;

I’m pretty sure it’s men who are less safe than women at night in the town centre. Admittedly that’s almost certainly because of other men, but still.
That's only because men take in far too much alcohol and become idiots, yes women can too, but we don't start as many fights as blokes do.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Perhaps a slightly controversial take but;

I’m pretty sure it’s men who are less safe than women at night in the town centre. Admittedly that’s almost certainly because of other men, but still.
So the focus should be on preventing men, not helping women? Could always have drink limits enforced better I guess, fine both the drinker and the establishment if they're too pissed? Maybe we could just bar anyone who looks a bit rapey?
 

Raven

Well-Known Forumite
When was the last time you saw any uniformed police walking the streets / town center of Stafford ?, in my case never but I have only lived here a few years.
IMO you should see them every day as we pay enough in rates etc.
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
When was the last time you saw any uniformed police walking the streets / town center of Stafford ?, in my case never but I have only lived here a few years.
IMO you should see them every day as we pay enough in rates etc.
I had cause to ring 101 last night, due to 2 cars parked up on the short stay opposite, 11 o'clock at night, both revving the arses out of their cars and doing the aggro chant on their horns. I was on hold for 10 minutes. Eventually gave up, mainly because they had driven off.
I'd nudged Staffordshire Police earlier (2015_ due to the same 2 cars parking up and doing the same, while the drivers appeared to be fighting one another. They eventually got back to me on Farcebook an hour after my first message.
Friend up the road reckons I should just dial 999 and say it looks like they have weapons, might get some sort of a responce.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
The police have had a lot of funding cut.
I think Staffordshire Police get about £222 million annually which for a population of 678,000 works out at £327 for each man, woman and child.
At nearly £1 a day we might hope to be reminded of what a police officer looks like if we dared set foot in the town centre on a Friday or Saturday evening.
 

PeterD

ST16 Represent.
I think Staffordshire Police get about £222 million annually which for a population of 678,000 works out at £327 for each man, woman and child.
At nearly £1 a day we might hope to be reminded of what a police officer looks like if we dared set foot in the town centre on a Friday or Saturday evening.
Or to put it differently. To fund 3500 officers and support staff, and also the support systems, the technology, the training, the premises, the 3rd party investigators. All adds up I guess.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
Or to put it differently. To fund 3500 officers and support staff, and also the support systems, the technology, the training, the premises, the 3rd party investigators. All adds up I guess.
So that's about £63,000 for each officer ?
 

DoggedWalker

Well-Known Forumite
This is whataboutery and so not needed. Men are the issue regardless of who the victim is but if I had a son instead of a daughter I would be more confident of his safety if alone at night than hers.
Obviously the best way to tackle women's safety is to get to the perpetrators early, parents and friends educate these people, sadly it isn't happening even with the red flags being displayed, so anything that can be done to protect females is a positive. I repeat though, the issue is the men, not women.
It’s not whataboutery though is it. It’s an entirely related subject where the number of victims and severity of injury is much more significant.

Policing and tax payers money shouldn’t be about massaging your fears, which, by the way, are sexist. (Your fear is based on the fact you perceive your daughter to be inherently more at risk because she’s female, whereas you’d think your son should be able to handle himself). It should be spent in a way that has the most significant impact in communities.

Women are many times more likely to be impacted as victims by men who are known to them in domestic violence related crime. None of these measures have any real impact on protecting women effectively.
 
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DoggedWalker

Well-Known Forumite
I think Staffordshire Police get about £222 million annually which for a population of 678,000 works out at £327 for each man, woman and child.
At nearly £1 a day we might hope to be reminded of what a police officer looks like if we dared set foot in the town centre on a Friday or Saturday evening.
How often do you actually hit the town on a weekend? I’d suggest being around Casa or Couture from 11-ish and you’d see several cops throughout the evening.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
How often do you actually hit the town on a weekend? I’d suggest being around Casa or Couture from 11-ish and you’d see several cops throughout the evening.
If I was in town it'd be no later than "evening", i.e. up to 11pm.
I'm home, or on the way there, before "from 11-ish" and even when young wasn't one for "being around Casa or Couture".
So I doubt if I will ever see one of the police officers that I pay Council Tax for.
 

PeterD

ST16 Represent.
It’s not whataboutery though is it. It’s an entirely related subject where the number of victims and severity of injury is much more significant.

Policing and tax payers money shouldn’t be about massaging your fears, which, by the way, are sexist. (Your fear is based on the fact you perceive your daughter to be inherently more at risk because she’s female, whereas you’d think your son should be able to handle himself). It should be spent in a way that has the most significant impact in communities.

Women are many times more likely to be impacted as victims by men who are known to them in domestic violence related crime. None of these measures have any real impact on protecting women effectively.
Nonsense. Don't tell me what my fears are. My fears are that my daughter us likely to be a victim of assault, of sexual assault, of abduction. If I had a son, he is less likely to be a victim.
 
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