The night-time economy plays an important part of cultural life in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, creating jobs, attracting visitors and boosting our economy. But like any other area, it is also where most alcohol-related violence is concentrated and continues to present significant policing challenges.
Managing demand and improving safety in our night-time venues is a priority for every PCC in the country and like most, I see this as a shared responsibility. Since I was elected, I've worked closely with local partners including licensees to ensure we are supporting businesses in the best way possible to keep their customers and livelihoods safe, and I am proud at how readily the industry has embraced our efforts.
In recent weeks, this has included a new behaviour change campaign, created by Leicestershire Police called "Walk Away" which aims to promote the positive actions the public can take to avoid confrontation and prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries by assault.
Data shows offenders and victims are often men aged between 18 and 30 who do not know each other before the initial interaction. In most of these cases, the offender also has no criminal background. The campaign aims to influence potential offenders by encouraging them to exercise self-control and to walk away from heated situations before they escalate.
"Walk Away" made such an impact in the first few weeks that it has been adopted by forces around the UK in a bid to reduce violence this festive season. The response to the campaign demonstrates that the message to ‘walk away' is strongly resonating with the desired audience and people are identifying with these situations.
We've also made significant progress in responding to spiking. A whole wealth of resources is available on the force website to enable people to report suspected spiking incidents more easily and to access help and information if they are a victim. The force is committed to investigating and collecting evidence following such incidents and has effective testing equipment to support the process.
Elsewhere, I have invested significant funding into technology and training to ensure night-time staff have the equipment and knowledge to act to save lives. This includes £20k of funding to deliver first-aid training to staff working in the night-time economy in Leicester; metal detectors to help remove dangerous weapons from the streets, additional CCTV, town centre radios and online bystander training to help bar and door staff safely intervene in the presence of risk. I've also funded an expansion of the Street Doctors initiative which sees young people equipped with the skills they need to become ‘street doctors' at the scene of a violent attack.
None of this work stands in isolation. It links to a whole series of activity undertaken by like-minded organisations who are serious about addressing safety and serious violence in our public spaces. There is much more to do but together we will continue to make a difference.
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