Street Pastors launched in Bristol

Street Pastors will soon be an integral part of the Bristol city centre nightlife and hopefully making it a safer place to be out in.

The long awaited Bristol Street Pastors launch took place this evening at the city's Council House. Representatives from the council, police and the Christian organisation, the Ascension Trust, spoke about potential impact of the scheme to a number of prospective volunteers.

Street Pastors are Christians – dressed in a blue uniform - who go out as part of a trained team onto the streets of a town of city at night and help people and provide a reassuring presence. Their duties can range from befriending those who are "worse for wear", providing people with basic first aid, handing out flip flops to girls walking with bare feet or calling ambulances for people.

Founded in London in 2003 there are now more than 250 such teams working in the UK. The scheme has seen some amazing results including drops in crime in areas where teams have been working.

Perhaps most remarkable was pointed out by Adrian Prior-Sankey, a representative of the Ascension Trust, who said at the launch that Portsmouth's street crime levels dropped by 60% where the pastors were implemented.

Bristol Street Pastors plan to start by patrolling the city centre and Park street areas on Saturday nights, expanding to other areas and nights as volunteer numbers permit.

The launch highlighted the notion of the "Urban Trinity" – the Church, local government and the police – as a collective that can work together for the good of the community.

Bristol City Council's Nick Carter said that he's very proud to be associated with the project and that the council is fully committed to making Bristol Street Pastors a success.

Inspector Nick Trundle has followed Street Pastor projects around the country and said "To see it work is very impressive. The police, ambulance people, pub and club owners - everyone appreciates street pastors."

So when will people first see Bristol Street Pastors in action?

Well training for those accepted as volunteers starts in October and can take several months – so it might not be until 2013 that Street Pastors are out in full force on the city centre streets.