Inspector Hayley Crawford who founded ‘Ask for Angela’ has been given a National Pubwatch Malcolm Eidmans award, sponsored by JD Wetherspoon.
The award recognises the outstanding contribution made by a police officer or member of police staff in supporting Pubwatch.
Hayley Crawford, was a civilian when she was employed as the Substance Misuse and Sexual Violence (prevention) Strategic Coordinator for Lincolnshire when she created the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign. However, she joined the police on its direct entry scheme and is now district policing commander in Bassetlaw, North Nottinghamshire.
‘Ask for Angela’ is a simple but clever concept to reduce vulnerability in the pub and hospitality sector. It works by providing a ‘safe word’ – which customers can use to seek help.
The initiative has been so successful it has received international attention and has been taken up in many countries, including the United States, Australia, Argentina and Germany. In 2017 Hayley was winner of the Suzy Lamplugh Safety Campaign of the Year Award.
“When I initially put it in place it was one scheme within a bigger campaign I was doing at the time. It was just one of the resources for the night time economy. I launched it initially in Spalding, Lincolnshire and then took it out to Lincoln City and across the rest of the county,” said Hayley.
The idea around the concept at the time was to help people that were out and feeling vulnerable, particularly those online dating.
“There were a lot of people I was hearing about who were going on dates and not telling people they were going on an internet date because they were a bit embarrassed. What we were seeing in Lincolnshire at that time was people too embarrassed to report that they had been sexually assaulted after an internet date.”
Hayley worked closely with her local Pubwatch schemes to introduce the initiative into pubs and bars and the ‘Ask for Angela’ poster started to be displayed in venues.
At an early stage National Pubwatch saw the benefits of this new approach to customer safety. They contacted Hayley and she generously allowed them to make use of her original poster. Since that time National Pubwatch has promoted the initiative across the UK and it has been taken up as good practice by many individual venues and Pubwatch schemes.
The Ask for Angela poster has been downloaded over 15,000 times from the National Pubwatch website and many thousands more have been distributed in hard copy. The initiative continues to form an important platform for the vulnerability materials and training provided by National Pubwatch.
On winning the award she said:
“I am I am delighted to have won and it makes me feel that I have contributed to policing and helped them before I even joined as a police officer.”
Chief Constable Craig Guildford said:
“Insp Hayley Crawford has made a substantial contribution to policing and community safety as a dedicated public servant. Uniquely she has delivered on behalf of the public as a local authority officer and as a police officer. She singularly created the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign whilst working for Lincolnshire County Council which made a national contribution to the aims of National Pubwatch and she still supports its development.”
“Of late Hayley joined Nottinghamshire Police as a Direct Entry Fast Track Inspector where she has continued to take personal ownership for local problem solving. She is a dedicated neighbourhood Inspector in Bassetlaw, North Nottinghamshire where she has put her invaluable experience from community safety, problem solving and crime prevention into practice. She is a keen proponent of the Pubwatch scheme and works closely with local partners to maximise the benefits it brings to the community.”
