Kind-hearted police officers from Chichester have dug deep to donate £500 to City Angels to assist them to continue their work helping the night-time community.
City Angels is a project working with people in the city centre of Chichester during Friday and Saturday nights. The set-up is modeled on a successful and growing scheme called “street angels”. These projects are popping up all over the country and try to have a tangible positive influence on towns and cities night time economies.
City Angels, who started in 2011 and currently have teams of 8-12 trained volunteers, says the group consists of people “passionate about Chichester and making the city centre at night time a fun filled and safe place to be” working from 9.30pm to 2am.
Inspector Kris Ottery said: “We are pleased to continue giving our support to the City Angels who work in close partnership with us to help keep people safe by providing a visible and friendly presence in the City Centre. The work they do is invaluable and greatly appreciated.”
The donation comes from the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF), made up of monies received by the police from property confiscated by order of the court and then sold.
The work, for which the total annual running costs are around £16,000, see volunteers teaming up closely with Sussex police, Chichester District Council, West Sussex County Council, Chichester Businesses Against Crime, taxi firms and door security teams to help bring a calming presence to Chichester City Centre, helping to lower crime and anti-social behaviour.
The teams meet with the police every evening prior to going out on the streets and carry radios to enable regular communication with police, security staff and other partners. City Angels serve free tea and coffee from a mobile coffee van and effectively engage with the public and offer help to those in need. The teams carry backpacks with basic first aid kits, water bottles, flip flops, space blankets and other items in order to help those on a night out.
Photo shows Inspector Kris Ottery (left) and Lin Roberts, City Angels’ administrator (right)
