Street Pastor scheme helps to cut crime (From Herald Series)

Police hail Street Pastor scheme for helping cut crime in Wantage

11:20am Monday 24th May 2010 in Wantage/Grove By Herald Reporter

Street Pastor scheme helps to cut crime

CRIME has fallen within months of church volunteers starting to patrol the streets of Wantage to care for drunken revellers, according to a top police officer.

There are 24 Street Pastors from a network of ten churches in Wantage and Grove who have been going out on the streets on Friday nights since October last year and talking to drunk and vulnerable people.

They have handed out lollipops to ‘break the ice’ with revellers and given out pairs of flip flops to girls in high heels so they can walk home safely.

Chief Inspector Andy Boyd said: “They have been incredibly successful. They contributed significantly to just reassuring the community, making people feel safe when they come out to the pubs in the evenings.

“The volume of crime has gone down and the Street Pastors have clearly played a significant role. They have a real presence throughout town. Religion does not get discussed. They don’t go out to evangelise, they go out to make a positive difference in the community and that is what they do.”

One of the organisers of the Street Pastors scheme, Neil Townsend, of Wantage Community Church, said: “It seems to have gone very well. We have been well received by the people out on the street, and the police have said they feel we are making a significant contribution to lowering some kinds of crime.

“But that is not our direct aim. We just go out and we are caring, to make the town become a better place.”

He said: “When we are out on the streets, we are primarily looking to be available to talk with people and to lend a helping hand. We carry flip flops with us so people in high heels can get home safely. We always carry lollipops because they can bring a smile to anyone’s face and defuse situations that might otherwise not get defused.

“If you help just one person in a tough situation, it is incredibly rewarding for everyone involved. There have been occasional, very few moments when people have been rude to us, but they are few and far between, and we understand that after being in pubs for a while drinking, people will say all sorts of things.”

There are also plans to introduce the scheme in Abingdon.

Chief Insp Boyd said: “It will take several months to sort out but there is a lot of work to do. The volunteers will need to be trained.”

Based on a Jamaican model, the Street Pastors schemewas first launched in the UK in Brixton, London, in 2003.