Help points aim to preserve safety

CITY COUNCIL TAKES LEAD IN NEW INITIATIVE

- ZHARA SIMPSON

THIRTEEN new emergency help points have been installed across Plymouth as part of a package of measures to make sure people, especially women and girls, feel safer. They have been installed around the city centre, the Barbican and Mutley.

Funding from the Home Office was secured via a partnership bid by Plymouth City Council, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, NSPCC, Eddystone Trust, University of Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall Community Watch Association and Street Pastors.

The package is part of the city's Safer Streets funding, which was awarded earlier this year. Purple, well-lit help points are located near new and existing CCTV sites which offer increased surveillance in areas of higher footfall where there is perceived fear of crime, as well as statistics showing higher crime rates.