A MAJOR operation created to keep people safe in the city at night is in full force.
The council, police, and paramedics have teamed up with various organisations to ensure the safety of those in Southampton at night.
Operation Defender sees public bodies collaborate with Street Pastors, venue security, GO! Southampton, and CCTV staff every weekend throughout the year.
The operation, which runs on Friday night into Saturday morning and Saturday night into Sunday morning, has an emphasis on preventing anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls.
The Daily Echo went out with police on Friday night to witness the impressive operation first-hand and to find out why it’s so important.
What is Operation Defender?
Starting at 9.30pm, all officers on duty meet for a briefing ahead of their shift.
Acting sergeant Dave Bustin led Friday’s briefing and discussed what areas in the city needed to be covered.
Each weekend is graded on a traffic light system in terms of expected demand, and that night was expected to be ‘red’ due to Christmas parties and celebrations.
Once the officers were tasked for the night, sergeant Bustin explained the main focus of the operation.
He said: “We are a city centre team that looks after the high street and all the surrounding areas, so we deal with a wide range of things.
“We’re looking after the night-time economy and the main focus is on violence against women and girls.
“And we’re targeting anything from anti-social behaviour to street harassment. We work together with the council, street pastors, security staff and more to have a bigger presence in the city centre.
“When the city is on ‘red’ alert, we’re expecting quite a lot of footfall and with that comes more opportunity for anything to happen.”
'We can't do it without them'
Whilst some officers are out and about on foot, sergeant Bustin and his colleague PC Will Chan were on patrol in a police van.
We stopped on Above Bar Street, drove to Oxford Street, patrolled through the city centre parks, and paid a visit to Bedford Place.
Here is where I met Jemma Paul, the owner of Synergy Security.
Jemma has been on the doors of venues for 23 years and is a strong advocate for stopping males’ predatory behaviour towards women.
She said: “I started an operation a few years ago to stop predatory behaviour. I brought it to the attention of the police and it became much bigger.
“We can’t do this without each other. I can’t do it without them, and they can’t do it without me.
“We have female welfare officers in venues and my policy is that a woman can’t leave a venue on their own.”
Volunteers on the streets
Offering support outside of the hustle and bustle of the city centre are volunteers from St John Ambulance and Street Pastors.
Located in Andrew’s Park opposite the Southampton Cenotaph, the ambulance volunteers help reduce the number of ambulances called to the city with a pop-up treatment centre.
Eight volunteers provide the service with a multi-disciplinary team of first aiders and ambulance crew supported by a paramedic.
Regional community response lead, Luke Simmonds said: “It really takes the pressure of the NHS as we can deal with a lot of things and help people here in the city centre.
“The partnership works really well as everyone works together to safeguard those who are vulnerable. It makes the city safer for everyone.”
St John volunteers are available from 10pm to 4am every Friday and Saturday.
Also offering on-the-ground support is the Street Pastors.
From July to September this year alone, the volunteers identified 76 vulnerable people who they supported and stopped and intervened with predatory behaviour 19 times.
Volunteer Geoff Pardon said: “We are out in the night-time economy helping people who are vulnerable or at risk.
“This is us living out our faith and we are serving Jesus on the streets. We are caring, helping, and listening.
“We will help people and get them into or taxi or walk with them to make sure they get home safe.”
'Not be tolerated'
Speaking on the operation, inspector Charlie Ilderton, who runs the Southampton Central Neighbourhoods Policing Team, said: “Every single week we have a meeting where we discuss the weekend before and plan the week ahead.
“We have to make sure we are looking at things together.
“Our main concern is to reduce violence against women and girls – that has really been the focus for us this year.
“People need to know that behaviour will not be tolerated and the police is tackling this robustly.
“Everyone involved in Operation defender has a radio so we can use our resources effectively.
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