New Plymouths CBD goes Mellow Yellow

From tonight (Friday) a new initiative begins to help make New Plymouth’s central city safer at night.

Mellow Yellow is a joint campaign between the New Plymouth Police, New Plymouth District Council, the Hospitality Association of New Zealand and inner-city bar owners.

The programme improves communication between licensed premises and the police about potentially difficult patrons during the evenings, and raises the public’s awareness of safety features such as the CBD’s CCTV monitoring.

The most obvious feature of the campaign is the high-visibility yellow jackets being worn by door staff at licensed premises. Two-way radios will also be provided to door staff to enable them to communicate with each other and directly with the police.

“The jackets are a visual reminder to patrons that all of the city’s licensed premises are working together to reduce violence among the public,” says Senior Sergeant Selwyn Wansbrough.

“Police will also be in close contact with the door staff via the two-way radios and will respond quickly to any incidents of violence.

“Once we are advised of an incident by door staff, we will also direct the CCTV cameras onto the particular incident which will assist in obtaining evidential information for later use by the police.

“With the higher visibility of these staff and the police, together with improved communications, we expect the number of violent incidents to reduce in the CBD.”

NPDC has provided the door staff with the yellow jackets and the two-way radios.

New signage is also being installed in shop windows and other areas to remind the public about the CCTV cameras.

“This is a collaborative effort between all the agencies to make the CBD safer for everyone at night,” says Manager Customer and Regulatory Services Simon Pickford.

“No one wants their evening visit to the CBD marred by violence, and we’re happy to support public safety initiatives in any way we can.”

This initiative is part of a broad partnership between the Council, the police, health groups and a range of community agencies which is developing a Community Safety Strategy for New Plymouth District.