Inverness street pastors get involved with Operation Respect

Street pastors talk about the importance of Operation Respect this festive season.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Mark Hadfield, I'm the Operations Manager for Inverness Street Pastors.

00:05 And I'm Ross Tiffin and I coordinate the patrols.

00:08 We work with all the partner agencies but our aim really over the festive season is

00:12 to keep people safe and feeling comfortable on the streets and to help those who perhaps

00:17 are not in a position to help themselves at that moment.

00:21 I think the festive season is a time for celebration for those who are out having a good time.

00:28 It's also a time of loneliness and isolation for some people.

00:31 So you could call it a mixed bag but there's certainly no need, there's no lack of need

00:39 if you like for the services that we try to provide.

00:42 We also do some daytime patrols during this time because there are a lot of people out

00:47 there during the day who are again lonely or isolated who perhaps need someone to talk

00:52 to or might need some help and then signposting to services that they might need.

00:57 Our mantra if you like is to be wherever people are so that we're accessible and to listen,

01:04 to care and to help.

01:07 So we spend a lot of time listening and chatting.

01:10 There's a lot of anxiety in the world right now, a lot of people are worried about things.

01:15 Christmas can bring a lot of anxiety as well as a lot of joy.

01:19 So we're always good for a chat, we're there to listen.

01:23 But also any kind of practical help the week and off we will do so as well.

01:27 So in the party season, in the night time economy, practical help might look like helping

01:34 people to find a taxi rank, helping people to stay warm, helping people to make a phone

01:39 call if their phones have run out of charge, helping people to reconnect with their friends

01:44 and their mates.

01:46 Anything more severe than that we leave to the guys at MERT, they're fantastic.

01:51 But we're there to provide general social care, social support, pastoral support.

01:56 We have around 24 active volunteers who are going out and a team would normally be between

02:06 four or six people.

02:09 We're all volunteers so it's good if we can get full teams out.

02:12 But that's what we would aim to do.

02:14 to do.