A new initiative in Plymouth is helping women feel safer on nights out.

The city council is working with police to disrupt predatory behaviour towards women, preventing it from escalating into serious violence.

Forty-three men aged between 22 and 77 were ‘reviewed’ in the 12 months to November 2024 where ‘intellegence’ had spotted early signs of predatory behaviour.

Such behaviour can include loitering, isolating, harassing or following women, making sexualised comments and giving unwanted attention.

A total of 18 of the 43 men were asked to go to police stations to talk about their actions to a group called the ‘evening and night-time economy predatory behaviour disruption partnership’.

The council’s community safety manager, Kristina Browning, told a cabinet meeting this week that none of the men met the threshold for a criminal investigation, so without such intervention, their behaviour would have remained unchallenged.

She said in all their cases, women had felt harassed, alarmed and distressed by their behaviour, and the issue is a national one.

“The vast majority of people who go out, go out with the best intentions,” she said. “This is about a small minority who go out without those good intentions. It is those we are looking to target.”

The partnership can issue community protection notices and written warnings asking someone to modify behaviour that negatively impacts the quality of life.

A range of other powers like civil injunctions to stop anti-social behaviour escalating had been useful in dealing with people who have shown predatory behaviour towards women involved in street-based sex work.

A pilot scheme last year is being incorporated into the work of the community safety team.

“We are picking this up as business as usual, and as we have been promoting it there has been an increase in intelligence. We have had 13 interventions in the first four months of year two.”

The partnership was a finalist for a project of the year at an awards ceremony called Resolve ASB and has spiked the interest of London’s Metropolitan Police, which wants to set up a similar scheme.

Funding for behavioural change work is the next step, as the partnership also supports people who have displayed predatory behaviour to prevent it from happening again.

Eighteen men who had early intervention had not come to the attention of the police since Ms Browning said.

Cllr Sally Haydon, cabinet member for community safety, said this was one of many initiatives to keep people safe, including a safe bus, street pastors and a national scheme known as Ask for Angela that helps people who are feeling vulnerable on a night out.

She said this makes Plymouth a “very safe city”.

“Women who just want to enjoy a night out in Plymouth have every right to do so. Our bars, restaurants, clubs and public spaces should be a place of fun and safety not fear.”

Plymouth has recently been awarded Purple Flag accreditation for its evening and nighttime economy for the fifth year in a row. Run by the Association of Town and City Management, the scheme recognises high standards in managing destinations at night.