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Press Release

The Met must solve issues of street lighting and CCTV coverage so that women can feel safe

Responding to the Met Police’s announcement of targeted patrols taking place across London after thousands of women reported feeling unsafe in public areas, Nick Bowes, Chief Executive at Centre for London said:

“It’s no surprise that women have reported feeling unsafe on the streets of London, and that the majority of the 3,272 reports to the Met’s StreetSafe online reporting tool relate to poor street lighting and CCTV coverage.”

“However, we must ensure that the city gets to grips with solving the issues of lighting and security surveillance highlighted by the respondents, rather than hoping additional police staffing can rectify these problems. Our 2021 report, Seeing clearly: How lighting can make London a better city, emphasised that, while an obvious solution would be to install brighter lighting, the evidence that this supports safer streets is mixed.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

  • Since it takes between 20 and 30 minutes for the eye to fully adapt to extreme changes in lighting, having extremely bright lights punctuating darkness at intervals can actually make it harder to see, as the greater contrast is more challenging for the eye – extract from ‘Chapter 1: Understanding Light’, Seeing clearly: How lighting can make London a better city.