Street Pastors - Modern Day Samaritans

A report by The Community Safety Forum has acknowledged that Basingstoke and Deane, as a place to live and work, is getting safer. There are a number of initiatives being deployed in the area not least of which is the ‘Street Pastor’ program which is spreading to towns and cities across the Country.

Malcolm Murray, senior business manager at BCMS Corporate spends Friday evenings and into the early hours of Saturday morning as part of the Street Pastor team in Basingstoke. He said, “Traipsing round Basingstoke on a Friday night talking to teenagers, I’m sure, is not everyone’s idea of a good night out but Police and local councillors have acknowledged that what we do is worthwhile and has had a positive effect on the levels of anti-social behaviour. What we do is organised through Churches of various denominations but the purpose is not to preach to people, we just provide support which might be as simple as engaging young people in conversation to diffuse a potential argument or being a reassuring presence to make people feel safer when they are out and about.” He added, “Street Pastor is now well established in Basingstoke and myself and other volunteers have become a regular feature of Friday nights. We are recognised by many of the young people who will often now stop to chat – they certainly seem to appreciate that we are giving of our own time and are there because we want to be.”

Street Pastors began in Brixton, London, in 2003, based on a model first developed in Jamaica.