Sarah Everard: Met launch 'walk and talk' scheme to help women's safety

The Met says it wants to make the streets safer for women by "acting and building trust"

A new initiative to improve women's safety has been launched by the Metropolitan Police following Sarah Everard's kidnap and killing.

The 33-year-old vanished as she walked home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London, in March.

The case sparked a debate about women's safety in public spaces.

A new scheme will see 25 female neighbourhood officers deployed in Lambeth and Southwark to hear first-hand what women's concerns are.

Sgt Becky Perkins who is leading the "walk and talk" initiative said some of the conversations had between officers and the community had surprised her.

"Whether that's with regard to not reporting certain things, that we won't take them seriously or be able to do anything about it, or didn't realise it was an offence," she said.

She added there was a "desire for action to be taken which keeps women and girls safe".

The Met's handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard, prompted a wider debate over policing during the pandemic

Miriam Wickham who uses Brockwell Park in south London regularly, told officers she was concerned about her daughters being followed home from school, or being catcalled in their school uniforms.

"We talked about walking home alone in the dark, and I said 'I don't do that and I haven't for many years. I ride my bike, because I feel safer on two wheels than on foot'", she said.

Sgt Perkins added: "We can't magically change everything overnight, but if there are some common themes like better lighting, or seeing more police officers in a certain area, that's a very quick change that we can make."

Miriam Wickham, said she was concerned her daughters could be followed home from school

Analysis: BBC London's home affairs correspondent, Katharine Carpenter

The statistics are stark - according to City Hall 20,482 sexual offences were recorded in London in 2018-19, 87% of the victims were women, and five out of six victims of sexual assault did not report the incident to the police.

After the disappearance of Sarah Everard our social media timelines filled up with stories of attacks on women.

We questioned whether the things we considered minor when they happened really were minor - should wolf-whistling at teens be reported? When should the hunch you're being followed become something to ring the police about?

On our Walk and Talk in Brockwell Park, Sgt Becky Perkins made it clear women (or indeed anyone concerned) should report all incidents where they feel vulnerable or threatened.

It helps the police build up a picture of what's happening in an area and multiple calls from the same location or about the same person might flag up something more sinister.

Emma Kay, the co-founder of WalkSafe, said in the aftermath of Sarah Everard's disappearance, half a million people downloaded her street safety app which pins locations of reported crime, such as sexual assault, mugging and knife crime.

Ms Kay added: "Women have been struggling to open up and be heard. There is a real need for these initiatives by the police, because there's a lot of ill-feeling, there's a lot of chat but nothing is being done."

The Met said it had also established specialist predatory offender units to arrest and charge those who carry out violence.

These are based in every borough command unit across London.