Nightlife campaign: Launched to further help keep women and girls safe from harm and sexual harassment

Women and girls will be believed and supported if they experience any kind of unwanted sexual behaviour.

A programme, Safer Streets for Women, has been launched on January 31 across the Northumbria Police area to further help ensure the safety of women when they are out in bars, clubs and walking through public spaces at night.

The multi-agency campaign, called Fun without Fear, is part of the wider programme that highlights a zero-tolerance approach to unwanted sexual behaviour in the night-time economy. Women and girls will be believed and supported if they experience any kind of unwanted sexual behaviour, whether they want to report the offence to the police or not.

The Fun without Fear campaign seeks to reassure women that measures are in place to support their safety. It is a feature of a wider Safer Nights for Women programme funded by Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness’s Office.

The tragic killing of Sarah Everard brought to the forefront concerns about women's and girls’ safety in public places. According to data from the 2019/20 Crime Survey for England and Wales, 69% of women aged 16 and over said they felt very or fairly safe walking alone after dark. An OPCC-led survey focussed on feelings of safety in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear found that 43% of sexual harassment and 44% of unwanted sexual touching happened in city centres/bars/pubs. The second most common location for sexual assault/indecent assaults was pubs/bars/social clubs in towns and city centres.

The Safer Nights for Women programme aims to make women and girls feel safer in public areas at night and stretches across the Northumbria Police area, in partnership with all six local authorities, including Sunderland, South Shields, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Shields and Northumberland, Northumbria Police, Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland, Changing Lives, Police & Crime Commissioner’s Violence Reduction Unit and Street Pastors across parts of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

A spokesperson from Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland said: “This initiative is a unique partnership which will send out a clear message that sexual harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.

“Women who come to us will be believed, we won’t judge them, and we will support them all the way, and get them the right help, whether they want to report to the police or not.”

The programme will also offer training to staff in bars, clubs, and late-night music venues to help make sure these spaces are safe for women and young girls.

The expanded programme has four pillars of work including prevention: interventions to lessen opportunities for Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG); support: access to support where there are incidents; behaviour change: interventions to address offending behaviours and awareness: highlighting the number of offences that take place.

The programme features several measures:

Operation Cloak | Operation Cloak began in 2019 in Newcastle, and the operation has been expanded across to Sunderland, South Shields, North Shields, Tynemouth, Morpeth and Berwick. Enhanced police patrols in night-time economies across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear will look for and intervene, where there may be vulnerabilities or incidents where consent may not be clear.

Street Pastors | Street Pastors across all six local authority areas will support women, girls and vulnerable groups in key busy, high-harm areas They will give women safe refuge, help them get home safely, and hand out flip flops and water.

Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland | Where an intervention has occurred, police officers will support women to gain support from Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland. The organisation will offer a call-back service to women and girls who received an intervention from the police to help ensure their safety. The aim of the callbacks are for RCTN to provide further advice, guidance, signposting or referral information, where required.