Police in Gloucestershire have launched a new app which allows women and girls to anonymously share experiences of how they have felt unsafe in public.

The app, called ’Flare’, has been developed by community partnership Safer Gloucestershire to encourage women and girls to highlight a range of safety-related behaviours and incidents, which often go unreported to police.

The free-to-download app enables women and girls to share experiences such as drink spiking, verbal abuse like catcalling or sexual comments made in public, inappropriate touching, stalking and street harassment, ’upskirting’ and more.

Information shared anonymously on the app will then be used by police, councils and local partner agencies to take action. 

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and Forest of Dean District Councillor Nick Evans, who chairs Safer Gloucestershire, said of the app: "Any incidence of violence, intimidation or harassment of women and girls on our streets should be reported to the police, but we know most are not.

"I want to turn that around and for women to have the confidence that in Gloucestershire, we care about their safety.

"That’s why information gained through the ’Flare’ app - which is free and easy to use anonymously - will help us take direct action and place cameras in the very places they feel most at risk."

The project has been funded by a Science, Technology, Analysis and Research (STAR) bid to the Home Office, which was submitted by Gloucestershire Constabulary and supported by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).

The constabulary says that data collected through the app will be used "to make Gloucestershire safer", which could include improvements such as police patrols targeting certain places, action taken to support a particular bar or club, increased CCTV or improvements made to street lighting.

Assistant Chief Constable Rhiannon Kirk, the Constabulary’s lead for Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls, added: "We are working hard every day to make our streets safer for everyone, and we’re hopeful this new anonymous reporting app will enable local agencies to work together and take action.

"We’ve heard the public’s concerns around how women and girls experience inappropriate behaviour on a regular basis, how this impacts their lives and the changes they feel they have to make to their daily routine to keep themselves safe.

"The Flare app will help to improve our understanding of these types of unwanted and unwarranted behaviours and incidents, as well as where they happen, and enable partners to use the intelligence generated to build a picture of what is really happening on our streets, which often goes underreported.

"Tackling violence and intimidation against women and girls is paramount - we will do all we can to ensure they feel safe from harassment, sexual abuse and assaults, when out in our communities and on our streets.

"It is concerning that so many people feel unsafe - whether walking home in the evening, at a pub or club or in certain areas of the county. We want to improve this, as nobody should fear for their safety.

"Our hope is that this app will help build our knowledge of what is happening and where and to use this knowledge to shape our policing of these areas".