Colmore BID launches Safer Nights Out campaign in preparation for the upcoming festive season

Colmore BID, one of the UK’s leading Business Improvement Districts, has launched its Safer Nights Out campaign which begins on Monday 27 November, aimed at continuing to keep businesses and visitors to the Colmore Business District safe and free from crime.

The Safer Nights Out campaign encourages fun nights out while raising awareness of dangers such as drinks spiking, preloading, and helping to educate people to a ‘safer nights out’ environment. The campaign aims to raise awareness of support networks, technology, and safe zones available within the District’s night-time economy venues. The objective is to empower people to make a change to their habits and help others without putting themselves at risk.

Each week from Monday 27 November through to the New Year, Colmore BID will focus on one of five key topics which are important to people being safe and enjoying great nights out in the District. These topics are:

• Safer travel (Colmore BID works with the Safer Travel Partnership to keep the District’s businesses and visitors safe. The BID fully supports Project Empower – tackling unwanted sexual behaviours on public transport.)
• Drinks spiking (Encouraging people to stay safe on their night out, always watch over their drink to make it more difficult for someone to spike it, and ensure people recognise the symptoms of drinks spiking so they can act quickly to help a victim of this crime.)
• Personal safety in the District (Colmore BID aims to keep the District a safe place for everyone visiting. The BID promotes the Hollie Guard personal safety app and offers opportunities such as personal safety sessions for businesses with an internationally renowned female martial arts expert to help increase self-confidence, awareness, and assertiveness.)
• Responsible drinking (Drinking a lot, quickly, or drinking to get drunk can have serious consequences for individual’s short- and long-term health.)
• Awareness schemes such as Ask for Angela and Licensing SAVI (Hospitality venues across the Colmore Business District are being given the resources for their staff to help spot people who feel unsafe, threatened, or vulnerable during a night out. Under the Ask for Angela scheme, venue staff are being made aware that anyone who asks for “Angela” may be using a special code word to indicate that they need help. The BID has also supported five venues in the District to achieve 5-star National Police Safety Awards from Licensing SAVI.)

Kate Bailey, Chair of Colmore BID’s Safe and Sound Working Group commented, “The focus of our Safer Nights Outcampaign is to ensure that individuals who visit, live and work in the Colmore Business District feel safe and secure here at night. As we approach the inevitably busy festive period, we aim to make people more aware of their personal safety when they are out and about, in addition to our fantastic Street Operations Security Team always being a visible presence in the District. The Colmore Business District is a safe and enjoyable place for workers and visitors, and our aim is to ensure that it remains that way.

I know many of us will be keen to make the most of the festivities this December, but it is important that we continue to do what we can to help each other stay safe and take responsibility for ourselves and others, while enjoying what our night-time economy venues have to offer.”

Colmore BID is also helping to tackle ‘Violence, Intimidation and Abuse of Women and Girls’ (VAIWG) through its groundbreaking Colmore Women’s Safety Forum and virtual network. Through this network, a number of initiatives and partnerships have been created to facilitate welcoming and safe experiences for any women who work, visit or pass thought the Colmore Business District.

On Tuesday 12 December at 5.30pm, the Colmore Women’s Safety Forum will proudly host the very first Walk with Women event to highlight the issues around women’s safety in public spaces. The walk will include a number of stop-off locations, including several of the District’s hospitality venues participating in the Licensing SAVI and ‘Ask for Angela’ campaigns, as well as Safer Parking Scheme accredited public car parks, and an update from the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership on their personal safety projects and campaigns.

Colmore BID enjoys a strong working relationship with the Hollie Gazzard Trust, which was set up following the murder of 20-year-old Hollie Gazzard in Gloucester in 2014 by an ex-partner. Representatives from the Hollie Gazzard Trust will be joining the Walk with Women event on 12 December to speak about the Hollie Guard personal safety app which provides real-time alert notifications if a user is in danger. It is the only such app in the country accredited by the National Police Chiefs Council.