Walk and Talk phase two

A new scheme to help protect women in Wiltshire continues with its second phase.

Walk and Talk was launched by us, with the help of partners, in November 2024.  This is where we link up with women in person to understand first-hand how safe they feel in the communities they live. 

Temporary Superintendent Lucy Thorne, who leads our tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) scheme, this time met up with Cath in Salisbury to discuss women’s safety in the city.

Lucy said: “Walk and Talk gives our police force the opportunity to speak directly to local women to get an insight into how they feel as a woman living in Wiltshire and what we and our partners can do to improve women’s safety.”

On Thursday (06/03) evening, Lucy and Cath walked around Cath’s local area in Salisbury.  Cath discussed how she has seen improvements in society coming together to tackle VAWG along with a renewed confidence which appears to be growing amongst women to report violence.  However, she would also like to see more improvements to her locality, like better lighting in poorly lit areas which makes her and other people feel unsafe and where she feels may attract criminality.

More safety for women

Cath is an active member of Salisbury Soroptimists who have been campaigning for four years to improve the safety for women and girls - they believe the work they are doing will contribute to improvements for everyone in Salisbury.  This ranges from street light audits to creating awareness for children and young people around consent and respect.

Lucy Thorne said: “Feedback from Walk and Talk is shared with our partners in the local authority to see what we can do as a collective to improve the safety of women.  It’s vital we work together to combat VAWG and improve how women feel in our area.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: “One of my priorities is to reduce anti-social behaviour and serious violence across the county. It is too easy for women and girls to simply be told they are safe in the night-time economy in Wiltshire, as we do have lower crime rates than many urban areas, but we must ensure they are actually safe – and feel it too, not just on International Women’s Day but every day of the year.

Hotspot Fund

 “Extensive research has been done by Wiltshire Police to ensure we are placing our resources in the right place - with additional funding secured by my Office from the government’s Hotspot Response Fund we are able to further bolster Wiltshire Police’s efforts with additional resources to target the anti-social behaviour and serious violence in some of the worst affected areas in Wiltshire and Swindon.

“Through my Community Action Fund, my Office has also funded FearFree’s 'Free the Night', a night time march that calls for the right for women to be safe when out and about in our communities at night. My Office will continue to invest in these, and other projects to show our commitment to reducing violence and serious harm, tackling violence against women and girls, and creating a safer night time economy for all.”

The first Walk and Talk was held on Friday (29/11/24) in North Swindon. 

Each Walk and Talk should last around 30 minutes and plan to be held quarterly throughout Wiltshire.

You can also report feeling unsafe in public spaces via the StreetSafe app, completely anonymously.