Students Lose Safety Night Service

NightWatch’s patrols throughout several entertainment areas in Brisbane, Australia will come to a stop after the safety group lost its funding when Brisbane City Council recently unveiled its budget.

From August, NightWatch will stop patrolling West End, Fortitude Valley, CBD and Caxton Street on Thursday nights, which are traditionally known as student night.

The chaplain of NightWatch who originally started the program 10 years ago, explained that he was grateful for the council’s support and understood fully their decision to stop the funding for the Thursday night patrols in light of the floods that occurred earlier this year.

While the lost funding is a disappointment those who patrol the entertainment areas in Brisbane know that what with the tough economic times it was necessary for funding to be cut in order to assist those who were affected by the flooding.

At present, the two-person team patrol four areas during the hours of 11 p.m. and dawn, where they can be found assisting those who are in need or a crisis. In the first nine months of patrolling Brisbane’s four primary entertainment locations, NightWatch has helped 264 people.

In many cases the patrols undertaken are those of drive-throughs in areas that are well known. Primarily, the aim is to make sure that people they come across have a means of getting home safely or to point them in the right direction of the nearest public transportation.

In order for NightWatch to successfully run it needs $25,000; however while they may want patrols to continue on Thursday nights limited funding will soon put a stop to this in August. While funding may cease for Thursday, resources will continue for Friday and Saturday nights.

Of course, students who are concerned about their safety while out should think about the measures they can put into place which will increase their safety. One way of doing this is through the assistance from pepper spray.

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for members of the public to turn their attention to this self defense spray canister. After all, it has become the perfect defense tool for those who want to increase their safety in a non-lethal manner. Not only is it safe to employ, but it is also easy to use as well.

This is another reason why pepper spray is becoming increasingly popular. A self defense device that is safe to use is more likely to be employed for a person’s defense compared to a non-lethal device that has the potential to cause more harm than good.