The Safe Place shopfront on Oxford Street will close at the end of the month as the number of people going there to report violence is not viable to maintain the space.
An external evaluation of the six-month pilot project, which saw volunteers from ACON’s Anti-Violence Project (AVP) staff the space at weekends, found the Safe Place was highly valued by the GLBT community and achieved some important outcomes.
“When we first set it up, it was about increasing the rate of the reporting of violence, drawing attention to the issue of violence and improving policing,” ACON CEO Stevie Clayton told SX.
“Since then we’ve clearly seen more police on the street, improved relations with the police, heightened awareness of violence and an increase in the rate of reporting. Reports have gone to the AVP and police, but not at the Safe Place. To continue it when only small numbers going in to report violence is not worth that investment in the future and there’s a whole range of other things we can do that will be more effective.”
These include getting businesses in the area to sign up to ACON’s existing ‘Safe Place’ initiative, where they display a sticker and people can go to report violence; anti-homophobia campaigns in conjunction with government; and joint police and council initiatives around alcohol and violence in the area.
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