If we are to have the city centre that we want and deserve – a place where people can work, socialise, spend leisure time and shop – then we must have a safe city centre.
And that means not just stamping out actual violence, but also harassment, particularly of women.
The Speak Out campaign aims to bring the problem into the open and under the spotlight. In the past 12 months there have been 20 reported incidents of harassment – generally sexual in nature – and while this might not seem on the face of it a huge figure, it is thought to be only the tip of a very undesirable iceberg.
Abuse being shouted from cars, things thrown from vehicles at women, following and wolf-whistling are not just innocently “laddish” behaviour, even if that’s how it seems to those doing it. For women – especially if they are alone, and walking in the evenings – these are very sinister and threatening actions.
The partner organisations behind the Speak Out campaign are convinced the problem is much greater than official figures show because women tend not to report such incidents – hence the name of the initiative.
By getting those affected to write their experiences and locations of harassment on a map of the city centre, the organisers of the launch event have managed to start drawing a picture of the areas where the worst of these incidents occur.
And with the local Neighbourhood Policing Teams on board with the project, officers can be targeted at these particular hot-spots and teach the perpetrators the error of their ways.
Bradford’s communities should be inclusive, non-intimidating and safe places for all people if we hope to have a vibrant city centre worthy of the name.
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