Neighbourhood Watch asks Lincolnshire ‘Are you OK?’

Neighbourhood Watch, in tandem with Lincolnshire Alert, have launched a campaign tasking bystanders with safely intervening into street harassment by asking the victim “Are you okay?”

The UK is facing an ‘epidemic’ of violence against women and girls, according to Neighbourhood Watch, and street harassment is on the rise.

It’s not often an isolated incident, and the long-term impacts can harm mental health and alter people’s behaviour.

Victims often feel guilty, ashamed, and blame themselves.

The campaign aims to tackle the ‘normalisation’ of street harassment by encouraging people to safely intervene, whether they are Neighbourhood Watch members or not, to send out the message that it’s not ‘okay’.

Deborah Waller, Head of Communications and Digital, Neighbourhood Watch Network, said: “This simple action is a delay technique and part of the 5Ds of bystander intervention developed by Right to Be.

[The 5Ds used to support someone who is being harassed are Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay and Direct]

According to Neighbourhood Watch, 37% of women and 24% of men had stopped walking in quiet places such as parks or open spaces after dark because of feeling unsafe. | Screenshot: Neighbourhood Watch

“By asking, ‘Are you okay?’ we become active bystanders and send the message that harassment is not okay.

“There are further actions that people can take, but our campaign focuses on the simplest step everyone can take.”

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that for the year ending September 2021, sexual offences recorded by police were the highest on record – up a staggering 12% from the previous year.

Neighbourhood Watch said over one-third of those that had experienced a crime in the past 12 months had been harassed, threatened, or verbally abused in the street, and that women (27%), more often than men (16%), were targeted.

Nearly three-quarters asked were worried about street harassment on a national level.

They say victims are often so resigned to constant harassment and abuse that they shut up and put up and treat it as part of daily life.

This is why the ‘everyday’ nature of these crimes are, according to Neighbourhood Watch, “deeply ingrained” in our culture.

Read more here and visit here to download all the resources you might need to support the campaign and share the message.

People are less likely to engage with strangers and participate in their communities if they fear being harassed. | Screenshot: Neighbourhood Watch