On 10th July the City Centre SNA and partner agencies ran an operation stay safe event to help manage the impact of an under-18 night at the O2 Academy. Stay safe involves multi-agency teams made up of youth workers, social workers and police staff, engaging with young people out on the streets. Under-18 events can attract up to a thousand young people to the city centre which can create problems.
The City Centre SNA always provides staff to assist with the events by setting up a knife arch to prevent any weapons from entering the venue and using alco-blows to make sure young people haven't been drinking before they turn up. This has worked so well that in the last six months no-one has had a parental advisory letter sent home as a result of blowing positive for alcohol.
Stay safe started at 5pm and officers were quickly in conatct with young people who were making their way to the event. Most of the young people were happy to speak to officers who gave them advice about staying safe in the city centre. Free memory sticks were also distributed with information about summer events for young people.
The busiest part of the night was closing time when upwards of 500 young people were making their way home. Officers monitored young people making their way to transport links and also took time to speak with staff at food outlets which are popular with young people. The operation was a success and no young people were arrested but more importantly all young people got home safely. We will be running stay safe at future under-18 events to make sure young people can enjoy themselves safely and parents can feel re-assured that their children are well looked after in the city centre.