Nightsafe Oxford Network

Nightsafe Oxford is a new network that has formed in order to provide a unified approach to help prevent Violence against Women and Girls in Oxford at night.

The network brings together partners and organisations in the night-time economy, including the police, CCTV operators, Street Pastors, night bus drivers, taxi drivers, licensed premises, door supervisors and university security services. All working together to make Oxford a safe and enjoyable destination for a great night out.

Network members will be provided with:

• Weekly Nightsafe Police briefings
• Two-way radio communication through a dedicated “Nitenet”channel
• Direct access to the police CCTV control operatives
• Training in how to identify and support vulnerable people who may need assistance
• Access to an online information sharing system to report incidents and matters of concern
• A dedicated member of staff to support partners throughout

Safe Places

An important part of the Nightsafe Oxford Network is the Safe Places scheme, where Network members with premises provide a place where people can get support in a safe environment. A range of businesses including city centre pubs, clubs and hotels have signed up to join the scheme.

Safe Places organisations will be identified through the Safe Places logo on their windows, or through the Safe Places App which will allow people to find their nearest Safe Place from their current location.

The Oxford Bus Company is also part of our Safe Places scheme.  Drivers will radio through to their control room for assistance if someone is in need of help.

Below are some of our signed up members:

City Centre

• The Randolph
• The Malmaison
• The Westgate
• Atik
• The Four Candles

East Oxford

• James Street Tavern
• The Bullingdon
• The Library
• The O2 Academy

Please keep checking back and we will adding more!

Personal Safety Apps

Most people are using social media to stay connected to friends and family on a night out. We wanted to highlight some personal safety apps that are the most common, each offering different features and available on most smart phones and tablets.

Always call the police on 999 if you are in immediate danger.

You can access the Apple store here: App Store – Apple (UK)

You can access Google Play store here: Android Apps on Google Play

Raising the standards

When you socialise in our city, we want you to receive a consistent positive response and be given the appropriate support, should you become vulnerable or experience sexual violence or abuse. We have invested in a series of training programmes for members of the Nightsafe Network to undertake and develop the rights skills and confidence to intervene safely and take the right course of action.

As part of our strategic plan, we have commissioned the following training courses:

Bystander Intervention for Sexual Violence “Train the Trainer”

18 organisations have just received the ‘train the trainer’ programme, delivered by Welsh Womens Aid. The subjects covered are; understanding the concept of a Bystander, how to recognise instances of sexual violence and abuse, how to respond to inappropriate behaviour and understand what support is available for victims.

Organisations have begun to deliver this course to frontline staff. We are creating a pool of trainers to deliver to organisations on an ongoing basis to cater for staff turnover.

Licensed SAVI

Licensing Security and Vulnerability Initiative – Licensing SAVI is an online assessment programme designed to help the owners and operators of licensed premises provide a safe and secure environment for their managers, staff, customers and local communities. Each question is evaluated and a personalised report with give advice where improvements can be made and clear recommendations on several new and improved security standards, which have been developed to address emerging criminal activity, such as women’s safety and spiking.

Licensing SAVI has been developed by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI) at the request of the Home Office. At the end of the assessment, a final grading will be given in the form of a rating system from 1-5 Stars (with 5 Stars being the highest). Venues can display these at their premises.

We have a number of venues signed up and we will be rolling it out to other venues during the coming months.

Drink Spiking Awareness Course by Stamp Out Spiking

The drink spiking awareness course is delivered by the charitable organisation, Stamp Out Spiking. The main objective of the training course is to train as many front-line workers such as bar and security staff as possible, in order to raise awareness about drink spiking amongst venues, ensuring staff know what they can do to help victims, and minimising the frequency of this crime.

The course covers all the key information a venue needs to know including:

• What is drink spiking?
• What substances do people use to spike drinks
• What can venues do to safeguard against spiking
• Immediate actions: what to do if you are made aware of a victim.
• What are the symptoms of drink spiking?

During the coming months many of our members will undertake this course.

Your journey home

Lighting

Poor lighting is one of the most common reasons for people feeling unsafe in an area.  Oxfordshire County Council have been upgrading the lighting on transport routes throughout the city.  Lighting in Park End and Hythe Bridge Street are being upgraded soon.

The Home Office funded Safer Streets Violence against Women and Girls project has also funded lighting improvements in Didcot, Witney and Abingdon.  The project selected these three areas to improve safety near transport hubs (town centre bus stops, taxi ranks and railway stations).

Mobile Phone Charging

New mobile phone charging shelves will available to use at both Oxford and Didcot rail stations soon. We have also given some of our Nightsafe Network members pocket chargers, to help you boost your battery life before you travel home. Be sure to ask one of the City Angels or Street Pastors if you need to use one!

Give us Your Views

Oxford Womens Safety is a website that allows you to tell us how you feel and what you want to see done in specific areas of the city.  Place a pin on a map of Oxford and tell us what you think and feel about the area.  Add your email address and we will keep you up to date on what the Network members are doing and how we are responding to the problems you have identified.

Click on the link below which will take you to the Oxford Womens Safety website.

https://oxfordwomenssafety.commonplace.is/

Campaigns & Resources

We wanted to share some campaigns that are currently available both online and on travel networks. Please share with your friends, family and peers if you feel they benefit from viewing them.

“Do The Right Thing”

Make the choice to end Violence Against Women and Girls

The Police and Crime Commissioner has released a campaign challenging men’s behaviour. The Do the Right Thing campaign encourages men to recognise sexual harassment and misogynistic behaviour from others and give them the confidence to call it out when they witness it.  The campaign can be found here

Do the Right Thing campaign – YouTube

Enough

The Home Secretary launched an ambitious new, multi-year national communications campaign, which says ‘Enough’ to violence against women and girls.

The campaign includes television adverts, billboards, social media and radio advertising and highlights different forms of violence against women and girls and the simple acts that anyone can take to challenge perpetrators of abuse.

The YouTube video can be viewed here:

Enough. Campaign to Tackle Violence Against Women & Girls Launches – YouTube

Crime Stoppers  Campaign

The Crime Stoppers Sexual Harassment video highlights some of the sexual harassment that women face every day. It shows a young woman experiencing four separate incidents of sexual harassment during her day, with them increasing in severity

Sexual Harassment takes many forms. All of them need to be stopped. – YouTube

Flipping the Narrative on Violence Against Women and Girls

Flipping The Narrative is the new podcast from Elmore Community Services, hosted by Luke Jerdy and Liz Jones, accompanied by a new spoken word performance by Luke who is also known for his portrayal of Jesse Donovan in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks from 2016 to 2020.

With the podcast’s encouragement to ‘pass it on’ to other men, Flipping The Narrative shows men that they can help each other to sit up, start conversations, and support each other and women. Click the link below to listen:

Listen to conversations about Flipping the Narrative on violence and abuse towards women and girls — Elmore Community Services

Victim Support

There are multiple support services available for people who have either witnessed or been a victim of crime. This list offers some of the places you can reach out to if you would like some support.

Reporting a crime to the police

Is it an emergency?

Is a crime happening right now, is the suspect still at the scene, or is anyone seriously injured or in immediate danger? Does it feel like the situation could get heated or violent very soon? If you need support right away? Please call 999 now.

If you have witnessed or been the victim of crime please report it to Thames Valley Police, you can call 101 or report it on line via this link:

Report a crime | Thames Valley Police

Victim First

Victims First is dedicated to making sure that all victims and witnesses receive the support they need to cope and recover from the impact of the crime. They care about those affected by crime and work continuously to improve services and support for victims.

Victim First have a number of specialist services which include help for victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse. They provide free emotional and practical support to all victims and witnesses of crime regardless of whether or not the crime has been reported to the police.

https://www.victims-first.org.uk/what-we-do/what-is-victims-first/

Crime Stoppers

Crime Stoppers are an independent charity that gives people the power to speak up and stop crime – 100% anonymously. You can them by phone on 0800 555 111 and online at the following website:

Independent UK charity taking crime information anonymously | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org)

Victim Support

No matter what the situation is, sexual harassment is never ok and it is not your fault.

If you’ve been subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour, you can contact Victim Support for free and confidential help. They can explain the options available to you, provide you with practical help like personal alarms and give you emotional support for as long as you need.

Victims Support details can be found here: Sexual harassment – Victim Support

Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre (OSARCC)

OSARRC provide a diverse range of effective services that meet the needs of survivors affected by sexual violence. Founded in 1979 as a collective of women, all volunteers, working to support women who had experienced rape and sexual abuse.

They are members of Rape Crisis (England and Wales) and The Survivors Trust, and work in line with the Rape Crisis National Service Standards, which ensure our work is of a high quality.

For more information about their services is available here

Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre (osarcc.org.uk)

Licensing Authority

Inside Premises

The Oxford City Council Licensing Authority team is responsible for the licensing, complaint investigation and enforcement of alcohol, taxi, gambling and sexual entertainment licenses in Oxford.  Any reports of unsafe practice, safeguarding concerns, violence or breach of condition can be emailed to licensing@oxford.gov.uk  Each report is investigated, often in partnership with the police and neighbouring Licensing Authorities, and appropriate action taken.  This could be additional conditions or a review of the licensing by a Council sub-committee.

The Licensing Authority also carryout proactive checks on premises and taxis to prevent situations from happening and improve practice.  Often these are done with the police, Fire and Rescue Service and other relevant partners.

Licensing Policy

Oxford City Council’s Licensing Policy (link) sets out the requirement on all licensing premises and late night food premises in how they run their premises.  The policy is used by the police and Oxford City Council’s Licensing Authority team to ensure any problems are addressed and conditions are placed on a premises.  For example, the ratio of doorstaff to customers, CCTV requirements, age verification schemes, sensible drink promotion and drink spiking.

The team can be contacted at licensing@oxford.gov.uk

Taxi Licensing

Oxford City Council’s taxi licensing policy sets out the requirements on Oxford City Council licensed vehicles, drivers and operators to work in the city.  This includes safeguarding training, complaints processing and investigations.

The team can be contacted at licensing@oxford.gov.uk

Pubwatch

The Pubwatch scheme is part of Oxford City Crime Partnership. Pubwatch members are local licensed premises operating within the city. Many of the pubs, bars and clubs are Pubwatch members.

The objective of the Pubwatch scheme is to work collaboratively with the police, local authority and other partners to:

• Reduce alcohol related crime and anti-social behaviour
• Promote safe drinking environments for customers and secure working environments for staff
• Improve communication and sharing information between licensees

Pubwatch provides an invaluable service to both members and the wider community.  They work closely with the Police and Licensing Authority and operate an exclusion scheme “Out of One, Out of All” that bans troublemakers from their premises for an agreed length of time.