#IWalkWithWomen: A night with the Cheltenham Guardians
We're marking six months on from the death of Sarah Everard
As part of our #IWalkWithWomen campaign, we've spent a night with the Cheltenham Guardians.
They're one of UK's leading specialist safeguarding teams primarily taking care of women in Cheltenham's night time economy.
It comes as we can exclusively reveal three in four women in the South West don't feel safe walking home on their own at night.
We've been given exclusive access to the team at work during a busy Bank Holiday weekend to take a look at the work they do to keep women safe.
"The lone female at night is by far the most vulnerable"
The night begins with a call over the walkie talkie. CCTV has picked up a girl who's trying to help her intoxicated male friend.
The Guardians turn up and volunteer Tara heads over to check on them. She assesses the risk of the situation, finds out the relationship between the two of them and makes sure they have a safe way of getting home.
Every service user the team engage with are given a car with details on how to contact them - with their average response time around 126 seconds.
Terry Howard is the Founder and Director of Operations at the Cheltenham Guardians.
"A lot of the time we check on people and they end up making their way home themselves", he says.
"But by actually proactively engaging with somebody we're potentially heading off a problem which may come down the line later.
"So this early intervention to make sure their okay is crucial."
The team operate under the India Protocol, a series of proactive and reactive safeguarding measures in order to increase the safety and security of women.
It is named after India Chipchase, who was raped and murdered by a man after a night out in Northampton in 2016 and is operated in her memory.
Although the team primarily look out for vulnerable women their 360 protocol means they don't turn anyone away.
The next call is from a doorman at a nearby club. An intoxicated man is fairly unresponsive on a bench outside.
Once we arrive, some health checks are conducted on him such as checking his heart rate and blood oxygen levels.
They try to access his phone to call a friend but are unsuccessful. However he begins to become more conscious and the team ask the nearby bouncers to keep an eye on him so they can get to the next call out.
It's to a girl who is extremely distressed and crying. She has a few friends around her who are trying to consolidate her.
Tara provides her with some water and some reassurance. She get a picture of how the men in group know the girls who tell her they're school friends.
In the back of the car Terry tells me this is something they always do.
"For some reason, men are drawn to women who are in distress. A lot of the time they are simply just looking out for them. However we have had incidents where they like to take advantage of the situation".
Part of the night is spent driving around the town with the car windows open so the volunteers can also hear any disturbances. Their ears and eyes are on the ball at all times.
A while later we pull over near a taxi rank. Terry has spotted a man in his early 40s sat on a bench.
"So I have to ask myself "why is this guy sat on a bench at half past 1 in the morning?". He could be going for a walk, but it's a bit of a weird time to take one", Terry says.
"It's very difficult because he could be the nicest guy in the world. But also we have to not only look out for the service users, but also people who could inflict harm on them.
"He doesn't seem to be acting too suspiciously, it could be that he's taken a sit down to eat some food before he makes his way home."
As the night draws to an end, some final welfare checks are done outside two neighbouring clubs as people begin leaving.
The team often see familiar faces who come and have a chat with them; some they've known for years.
"Well it's been a fairly steady night. We've responded to some pretty common and normal incidents of welfare checks and people being too intoxicated", Terry adds.
"But we deal with situations like these tonight to the very worst where women have been sexually assaulted.
"The work we do is a safety net. For the women and men on their night out, for the emergency services whose time is able to be directed elsewhere and for the town itself by keeping it a safe place for people to be".
#IWalkWithWomen
Through funding secured by GoFundMe, we've carried out a survey on attitudes towards women’s safety, six months on from the death of Sarah Everard.
Sarah disappeared in South London in March 2021 as she was walking home from her friends house.
Ex-Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens pleaded guilty to her kidnap, rape and murder.
So what is the picture looking like in the South West?
- 73% of women surveyed said they don't feel safe walking home on their own after a night out
- 42% of women say they feel LESS safe when on the streets or out alone since the death of Sarah Everard
- Women say they feel scared or threatened by someone of the opposite sex on average 3.45 times every month
- In the last six months, two in five women say they've received sexist abuse from a stranger
- Nearly 70% of women say the death of Sarah Everard has made them more aware of their own safety