More than 25 businesses and organisations in Bournemouth have signed up to a scheme seeking to protect the safety of women and girls.
The BCP Unity Promise aims to shift responsibility from individuals to local businesses, organisations and communities in the town centre, helping to create a united front.
Businesses are given the tools and support to build a safer environment in their own venue as well as the wider town centre.
The toolkit contains practical steps under seven commitments:
- Champion – Appoint a named contact to champion and drive forward any actions taken.
- Communicate – Create positive communications for both public and staff, online and in their spaces, to promote safety.
- Support Staff – Develop routes for reporting unacceptable behaviour at work and support cultural change.
- Support the Public – Establish routes for reporting unacceptable behaviour in their spaces.
- Training: Responding – Provide staff training on how to respond, including what to say or do, what not to say or do, and any relevant business policies.
- Training: Recording – Offer staff training on information sharing and appropriate recording of details.
- Designing for Safety – Audit spaces and adapt them to promote a safer environment and reduce the risk of crime.
Funded through the government’s Safer Streets Fund, the joint initiative involves a partnership approach with BCP Council’s Community Safety team, Bournemouth Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID), Dorset Police, The Shores and the Bournemouth Town Watch collaboratively working together to tackle safety issues round-the-clock.
Plans also include introducing the initiative to Christchurch and Poole in due course.
Cllr Kieron Wilson, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regulatory Services, BCP Council, pictured left, said: “Across the country, in both urban and rural settings, women and girls face situations where they feel unsafe or uncomfortable, impacting the decisions they have to make.
“For this reason, it is essential to promote safety for women and girls in public spaces, everywhere.
“Across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, we are trying to build a more supportive community through the Unity Promise. This initiative is to help local businesses put in place preventative measures to enhance safety.
“Businesses signing up have agreed to make use of our in-depth toolkit with guidance on how to achieve this. In addition, they will provide more training for their staff, report all incidents, and promote themselves as champions to raise awareness of the issue.
“I am proud that we are launching this promise, which underscores our shared responsibility to create an environment where safety for women and girls is a fundamental priority.”
David Sidwick, Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, added: “I welcome the initial roll-out of the BCP Unity Promise, a proactive and positive initiative to ensure women and girls can feel more confident about being safe while out and about.
“As Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner, I take this issue extremely seriously. The responsibility is on all of us to do more to create the societal changes needed to protect women and girls from violence and fear of violence, and the Unity Promise represents an important step towards that.”
More than 25 businesses have already embraced the pledge so far.