Plymouth CCTV 'help points to make people feel safer'

Councillor Rebecca Smith said she hoped the new points would "reassure people"

Thirteen "help points" with intercoms have been put up in Plymouth to make people, "especially women and girls", feel safer, the city council says.

Anyone who activated them would see the area illuminated, project bosses said.

They would also be connected to the city's CCTV control room, which was ready to alert police, they added.

The points, purple telegraph poles, have been sited in and around the city centre, plus the Barbican and Mutley areas, the council said.

The council said they had been installed near new and existing CCTV sites, offering "increased surveillance in areas of higher footfall where there is a perceived fear of crime, as well as statistically higher crime rates" as part of "measures to make people, especially women and girls, feel safer".

When activated, CCTV staff could monitor a situation "while an appropriate emergency response is on its way".

They have been paid for by funding from the Home Office.

Rebecca Smith, council cabinet member for communities and chairwoman of the city's Violence Against Women and Girls Commission, said: "We want everybody, especially women and girls, to feel safe when they walk around Plymouth's streets.

"These help points are just one the practical measures we have introduced to improve public safety and, hopefully, reassure people as they go about their business, whether they are shopping, enjoying a night out or just getting from A to B."