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Posted on 20 January 2025

Spark and Lancashire Police team up to keep Darwen nightlife safe

Working in partnership with Lancashire Police, Spark have been out in Darwen town centre every Friday and Saturday night providing safety advice to weekend revelers.

Together, the team aim to tackle anti-social behaviour issues such as spiking, safety around drinking and taking drugs, safer sex and the ‘ask for Angela’ initiative.

The initiative also aims to raise awareness around drug and alcohol related harms, reduce stigma and increase engagement into services such as Spark.

Spark Service Manager, Joanna Clarke, who has been working with the nighttime economy team, said: “We are working closely with our partners to keep people safe, whilst also focusing on the police and Blackburn with Darwen Council’s campaign to tackle violence against women and girls”.

She added: “We’d also like to say a huge thanks to Lancashire Police for their support”.

The team is made up of colleagues from Spark and Blackburn with Darwen Police. Laura, Donna, Batool, Jess, Joanna, Emma, Ian, Jen and Libby offer everything from anti-spiking kits to alarms, drug/alcohol literature, water, chocolate, hand warmers and signposting to support services.

The van is a safe space for everyone, specially created to offer advice and education with regards to keeping safe on nights out.

Joanna continued: “Despite the weather, it has been great to see so much interest from the local community in our services and learning about risks of spiking and how to keep themselves safe.

“We have begun to see people referring into our service for support beyond their night out as we continue to work on reducing stigma associated with substance misuse”.

The support began at the beginning of December, as violence against women and girls is known to rise in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Following this success, the service will continue as a regular presence in Darwen town centre in 2025.

Meanwhile, a recent government press release claimed drink spiking is set to become a new offence. In the release, Prime Minister Kier Starmer, said: “My government was elected on a pledge to take back our streets, and we will never achieve this if women and girls do not feel safe at night.”

The press release aligns with a new report from Drink Aware and Anglia Ruskin University, where 11% of people said they have been spiked at some point.

The stats highlighted that spiking isn’t an issue only facing women either. In 2022, for every three females who report ever being spiked, two men reported being spiked.

This number changed to almost equal split (2.3% females and 2.1% males) in 2023, which looked at the 12 months leading up to the survey. A disproportionate number of men reporting spiking came from LGBTQ communities.

To find out more about Spark’s night-time economy support work, please contact jclarke@delphimedical.co.uk

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