Safer Streets in Woking | Do The Right Thing | Surrey Police

Woking Football Club is proud to have teamed up with Surrey Police in promoting Do The Right Thing, a campaign by Sussex’s Police and Crime Commissioner, which challenges bystanders to call out the misogynistic and harmful behaviour which allows violence against women and girls to continue.

This is part of their Safer Streets campaign to clean up the Basingstoke Canal path in Woking, and we will be showcasing our support. This will be through coffee cup sleeves on our drinks throughout the weekend, online through social media, and on the scoreboard at our match against Eastleigh on Saturday 7th May.

Safer Streets is a funding initiative set up by the Home Office, which allows police forces from around the country to apply for funding to tackle chronic issues with crime in certain areas. Last year, the funding had a particular focus on violence against women and girls.

In late 2021, Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend secured £175,000 worth of funding from the Safer Streets project to be spent on tackling a number of indecent exposures and suspicious incidents towards women and girls along the Basingstoke Canal path in Woking.

A range of measures are being put in place to increase feelings of safety long the canal and deter offending. They include:
• Installation of new CCTV cameras to cover the length of the towpath
• Investment in electronic bikes, allowing officers and volunteers from Canal Watch to patrol the path quickly and more efficiently
• Removal of overgrown shrubbery to improve visibility and allow more room for users of the canal to safely pass each other
• Removal of graffiti along the canal, making the area a nicer place to be
• Installation of signage which promotes early reporting of suspicious incidents. *
*Some work remains ongoing – including removal of graffiti and installation of CCTV cameras.

Part of the funding was also put towards promoting behaviour change among the community when it comes to violence against women and girls, which is where the “Do The Right Thing” campaign was implemented.