Simon Foster, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, has praised the “fantastic” security work that is helping to keep nightlife customers safe on Westside.
Mr Foster paid a late-night visit to the Broad Street area to see for himself what was being done to protect visitors – especially women – in Birmingham’s ‘golden mile’ entertainment capital.
He said he had been “particularly impressed” with the work that has been taking place around the possible spiking of drinks and in combatting violence against women.
Watch Mr Foster’s review of Westside here:
Mr Foster, who was accompanied by the West Midlands Victims’ Commissioner Nicky Brennan, said: “I’ve been looking at the fantastic partnership work taking place between Westside BID, local policing teams, street wardens, paramedics, the ambulance service and venues to prevent crime, protect people and help the vulnerable.”
The work has included free testing strips bought by the BID and offered to nightclubs to help protect revellers from the threat of having their drinks tampered with.
The Police and Crime Commissioner added: “All of this partnership work has been immensely impressive and it is good to see all these different organisations working together to prevent crime, protect the public and help the vulnerable.”
Matthew Symes, West Midlands Pubwatch chairman and a BID director, met Mr Foster during his visit to Broad Street.
He explained how they had been working closely with all their venues to make sure that customers are “in the safest possible hands”, and that members of staff are also able to go to work in a safe environment.
Mr Symes said part of that process involved vulnerability training as well as an increased level of searches on the door, particularly in view of rising media stories of drink spiking.
He said: “We’ve worked extremely hard to make sure that all of our customers notice what we’re doing when they’re coming into the building, and they feel safe and reassured that we’re doing everything we can to protect them while they’re in the building.
“As far as keeping the streets safe for all our customers when they are not in our building, a lot of the venues work really hard with West Midlands Police, the ambulance service, the Westside wardens, the street pastors, and between each site.”
Mr Symes added: “We have a radio that talks amongst all sites so we can keep an eye on the people we don’t want in the building and make sure that everybody else on the street knows.”
In addition, he explained that venues hold weekly meetings with the police and BID to learn about things that might be going on, while passing on any feedback they may have on any
particular issues. There is also a WhatsApp group so sites can communicate with each other.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, who also accompanied Mr Foster on his visit, said: “The security of our staff and visitors is of the utmost importance to everyone on Westside, which is why we continually look to improve it.
“I am pleased that the Police and Crime Commissioner, together with the Victims’ Commissioner, were able to see for themselves the work that we are doing to keep people safe.”
