Government launches online tool for woman and girls to flag unsafe areas to police

The issue of violence against women and girls remains at the fore and here at Merseyside Police we are committed to protecting vulnerable people, particularly women and girls who suffer from violence, harassment and sexual abuse. 

 

We welcome today’s launch (Thursday 2 September) of the Government’s new online tool ‘StreetSafe,’ which forms part of a nationwide approach to tackling violence against women and girls.

 

The tool is hosted on the national policing website police.uk and enables members of the public to anonymously drop a pin onto a map in areas where they don’t feel safe, regardless of whether or not a crime has taken place. It allows them to highlight factors that cause them concern and could range from a poorly-lit pathway to instances of public harassment.

The data will then be used alongside other key data from policing, in partnership with stakeholders, to improve safety for communities and introduce new measures, such as night-time patrols or by installing better street lighting and CCTV.

 

The pilot will run for three months. 

 

ACC Ngaire Waine, Investigations and Intelligence said:

“Merseyside Police, alongside our partners, continue to work hard to tackle violence against women and girls to ensure we provide support for victims of violence against women and girls, but more importantly we are committed to reducing incidents through the development of a long-term strategic plans put together with our partners, which will look at how we can make areas safer through various initiatives, for instance designing out crime in areas where lighting may be particularly poor, or overgrown shrubbery can provide cover, and make people more vulnerable.

 

“The StreetSafe pilot will help us to improve our understanding of the concerns within our communities, allowing us to use the data to better respond and help us to tackle the issues that cause women and girls to fear walking the streets.”