Police launch walk and talk events to tackle women’s safety

The Welwyn Hatfield Neighbourhood Policing Team have launched a series of ‘walk and talk’ events for women and girls. 

It has been organised as part of the constabulary’s ongoing work to tackle MVAWG (male violence against women and girls).

The events will see the group take part in a 20-30 minute walk followed by an opportunity to stay for a chat or to continue exercising in a safe environment.

The next walk will take place on Wednesday 27 August and further details will be shared soon on Herts Connected.

The first event took place on Monday 14 July at 7pm in King George V Playing Field, Welwyn Garden City.

PCSO Stacey Robinson, PCSO Lucy Manning and PC Anne Lopez hosted the event and gave out a number of personal alarms.

The local Co-op also helped to support the event by donating bottles of water.

PCSO Robinson said: “We’ve had an overwhelming amount of public support and interest in launching this series of events.

“Our first event has gone really well and we hope to see even more people next time. During our walk we spoke about HollieGuard and Ask For Angela. 

“HollieGuard is a personal safety app which has many reassuring features such as tracking your movements and alerting your emergency contacts if something is wrong.

“The Ask for Angela scheme encourages people who feel unsafe on a first date to get help from bar staff. Anyone in such a situation can get help from bar staff by simply asking to speak to “Angela."

“Our next walk will take place on Wednesday 27 August and we will release further details in due course.”

You can use the Herts Connected platform to let us know what you think we should be prioritising in your area. Your feedback will help towards shaping our local policing priorities, initiatives and campaigns. Visit bit.ly/hertspolice-psf and tell us your thoughts. 

For more information about HollieGuard visit hollieguard.com

For more information about Ask For Angela, visit herts.police.uk