Staying Safe in the City

In the last few years it has become increasingly difficult for people to walk safely, not only on the streets of our biggest cities, but also in suburban and rural areas.  It isn’t only the threat of knife crime, but increasing levels of tolerated violence and verbal abuse are making more and more people vulnerable as they walk the streets.  This is exacerbated by security officials and the general public reportedly being unwilling to step in when trouble starts. 

Despite rising crime and threat of attack, it’s easy to believe that’ it won’t happen to me’, however three years ago Sarah Murphy personally experienced a horrific and violent attempted kidnapping on the way home from a night out with friends.  Here, she tells Belle About Town her story, and how she hopes to help reduce the risk for other women walking the city’s streets alone…

After leaving a nightclub in Clapham with my flatmate we decided to part company and I went on ahead.  I waited for the bus but it didn’t show up and as I was only a few minutes away from home I decided to walk instead. 

As I covered the short distance between the bus stop and my flat in Clapham South a car pulled up alongside me and a man tried to pull me inside the car.  As he dragged me in I realised that there were in fact four men in total in the car.  Recognising quickly that I couldn’t afford to let them pull me inside, I remembered something I had heard about kicking the car window to create a distraction.  As one of the men tried to get out of the car to push me in and close the door on me, I slammed both feet repeatedly against the window which momentarily startled him enough for me to be able to fight my way out of the car.  Luckily, as this happened, a bus approached and I was able to get away.

The incident left me very psychologically and emotionally shaken and with long term nerve damage in my leg.  I’d lived in London my whole life and perhaps I had begun to think I was invincible, however this incident convinced me that I had to do something to keep other people safe, to prevent this from happening to someone else.

I decided to launch a free app safety app called Chaperhome.  Whether it’s a teenager with growing independence or a young professional who often commutes or travels home from a night out alone, Chaperhome can give the user, and their friends and family, the confidence that should the worst happen, a close friend or relative will be alerted to the problem

When it comes down to staying safe in the city, we are told that there are countless different ways we can prevent things from happening to women, whether it is martial arts, staying together in a group, ensuring you wear the right things, and in reality, these things never change the fact that bad things can happen. 

The reality is that nothing can prepare you for an event that could potentially change your life while walking home or on a night out and we should never live in fear of something happening.

Chaperhome has been created to allow for people to take preventative methods, alerting their friends or family members to be aware that they are out, and to know their last known location if anything were to go wrong.  It is completely user empowered and does not allow for anyone to be tracked. 

The app will alert your protectors if you are feeling nervous and keep them updated until you feel safe.  It allows you to send timed reminders to check that you are ok.

When travelling from one destination to another Chaperhome will keep your protectors notified if you arrive on time or are late to your destination and when separated from a group of friends you can use the app to notify other members that you are safe and tell them where to find you.

The app has live updates and alerts which ensure that, should the worst happen, your friends and family can easily locate you.

• Chaperhome is available on the App Store and Google play.  More information can be found at www.chaperhome.com