Update from Meg: relaunching Pincident

Thursday 01-11-2018 - 11:49
Meg

We believe that everyone in our community deserves to feel safe and so, with term well under way, we thought now was a good time to remind you of our online mapping tool: Pincident!

To tackle the unavoidable fact that not everyone in Durham feels safe, we decided we needed a clearer picture of the problem. This is why my predecessors  developed Pincident, an anonymous mapping tool, which records experiences of harassment, violence, assault or discrimination, as well as incidences of bystander intervention in Durham.Blue google maps pin walking down Church Street

Pincident was launched in June 2018 and this week we’re making sure that everyone in Durham, especially those of you new to the University, knows about and can make use of this invaluable resource. Both students and staff can record their experiences on Pincident whether they were the target of or witness to the incident, and regardless of whether they intend to formally report it.

Rather than creating a map of places to avoid in Durham, pinpointing a negative experience on a map can be an empowering action for victims, allowing their experiences to be heard and also help tackle this behaviour in the future. Pincident provides a list of contacts to report an incident or access support, ensuring that those using the tool have the knowledge to take the best course of action for themselves. So please, if you’re unfortunate enough to experience this behaviour, do consider making a submission to Pincident.

The data that we’ve collected so far from Pincident already shows that serious work needs to be done throughout Durham. With the latest statistics demonstrating a worrying trend of violence and hate crimes around the city, it really is imperative that the whole community takes this issue seriously, and Pincident has been invaluable in providing insights into how best to go about this. Throughout the upcoming year I’ll be putting forward recommendations to the University and local community groups of tangible ways to tackle the behaviour.

Blue pin stood within autumnal treestAt the SU we’ve already taken initial action by providing over 500 freps with Active Bystander training – something we hope to continue offering to student groups throughout the year, because the intervention of peers is incredibly powerful and proves that we will not tolerate this behaviour in Durham, and so we need to make sure that those who do choose to intervene feel confident and safe in their abilities to do so.

I hope these initiatives will help increase the number of purple pins on the map designating incidences of bystander intervention, where people have tried to put a stop to harassing behaviour in Durham, so that the map stands as a positive recognition of the actions of everyone in Durham, and shows that we will not tolerate this behaviour in our community.

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Pincident, Update from Meg, Welfare and Liberation Officer,

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