Why Tone Setting is a task for all of us

Street Pastors first took to the Streets of Brighton in late June 2010 following an extensive period of planning and training and a certain amount of criticism from the online comments of Argus online readers. Whilst the first few weeks were something of an experiment it soon became clear that the support at the outset from Peter Castleton (then Sussex Police) and Nigel Liddell (BCRP) was well founded. Nigel in particular identified the role as one of ‘Tone Setting’ which truthfully I had never heard of. With the benefit of 28 months experience I am now convinced that Nigel was right and all of the cynicism displayed in the Argus comments was simply nonsense. The presence of a small group of (mostly) mature volunteers on West Street, East Street, Lower Rock Gardens and many roads in between has had an impact with the incidence of violent crime having been reduced substantially.

Street Pastors are all volunteers who commit one evening a month to go out on the Streets between Lower Rock Gardens and Preston Street (an area known as the Operation Marble area by the Police) to greet people they meet, with resources such as flip flops, lollipops, bottles of water, biscuits, basic first aid and a very strong sense of humour and patience. They wear a very basic uniform and receive training from a range of agencies. Their objective is to fulfil a role known as tone setting, creating a more welcoming environment than could be achieved by the Police and Door Staff alone.

I am not suggesting that you become a Street Pastor (although we would welcome you as an observer on any Friday night). However I do think there is a role for all of us to play in helping to keep our Streets open for people like us to walk down without feeling intimidated or out of place. Whilst many of our 8 Million visitors do come to visit nightclubs and pubs, others would like to walk down West Street or window shop in East Street and not feel as though they are completely out of place. If the walk once or twice a year was understood in terms of a significant reduction in the cost of emergency services would we be prepared to give up those Friday nights?

If you are still with me what about applying the same idea to the neighbourhoods where we live or the areas where we work. Tone setting is proven to work on West Street on a Friday night, and almost certainly the kindness of strangers works in other places. I believe that if we could apply the same approach to all of our communities that our experience of community safety could become a great deal more tangible.

Blog post by Ian Chisnall
http://brighton.streetpastors.org.uk/

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