Police campaign urges public to call out predatory behaviour

A campaign has been launched to tackle violence against women and girls, by urging members of the public to call out concerning behaviour.

As part of Project NightEye, Devon and Cornwall Police are asking members of the public to help them collect intelligence on sexual predators.

Police said the aim was to prevent sexual and other crimes by identifying predatory sexual behaviour and intervening to stop it escalating to an offence.

Rape survivor Siobhan, which is not her real name, said her attack might have been prevented if a similar scheme had existed during that time.

Det Supt Nicky Seager, from the policing vulnerable people team, said the project aimed to “help women and girls feel safer and supported”.

She said: “By addressing predatory behaviour proactively and collaborating with local communities, we aim to help women and girls feel safer and supported.

“Information shared by partners and the public will help us build our intelligence picture, target perpetrators and reduce and prevent sexual violence.”

Siobhan, who now works for the police, said she was being followed during the night of her attack.

She added: “I do remember thinking ‘Oh, I don’t like the look of that group that had followed us out’, and I actually moved me and my friends over to another area outside.”

“If I had thought I better report that, that could have been stopped there and then – that was right at the beginning of the night,” she said.

“Even if you think it’s small – call it in – because all that small information correlates together to make a bigger picture, which means that we’re then able to send our officers to the areas that are most needed.

“If you have any doubts at all and you have that feeling of: ‘Should I? Shan’t I?’ call it in.

“If someone had done that for me – what happened to me, may not have happened.”