'Glasgow is a safe place for women' says top cop

Yahoo

4 hours ago

A TOP COP says he believes Glasgow is a 'safe place' for women despite 'alarming' stats showing a rise in reported rapes and sexual assaults.
Detective Superintendent Steven Bertram says while he understands concern over the numbers, he doesn't believe the city is unsafe.
He told the Glasgow Times: 'I think it is a safe place.
'I get frustrated when we do lots of good things. There's lots of good things in the community and there's a lot of safety, and then one thing will happen and it sets everything back because of the actions of one person or a couple of people.
'But overall, for the amount of people in Glasgow and the size of Glasgow, it is a safe city, it is safe for women and children.'
It comes after recent figures show the recorded number of rapes and attempted rapes in Glasgow has gone up from 243 in 2015/16 to 494 in 2024/25, marking a 103% rise.
The increase in Scotland during that time is 60%.
In that same period in Glasgow, the number of sexual assaults has gone up from 619 to 800.
Det Supt Bertram agrees the stats are 'alarming' but says in context he thinks in part it is a sign of Police Scotland handling those crimes better.
He said: 'When I look at it, it is alarming to see the number but when I look at the context, I'd bring that alarm down a bit and I do get comfort thinking we are doing things a lot better.
'We are getting that engagement.
'I would be worried if I didn't have the same context there and it isn't just a massive rise in people being able to commit sexual assaults.'
He added: 'Those figures will be alarming for a lot of women and parents, but I think they need some peace of mind that the majority will go out, have a good time and come back unscathed and that's the way we want it to be.'
Det Supt Bertram says in the last 10 years, as well as Police Scotland changing how they handle complaints of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault and while there has also been a change in society.
He said: 'I think people are more willing to talk about rape and sexual crimes, it's not the taboo thing it used to be.
'In that 10-year period a lot has changed in policing.
'Our approach to sexual crime and rape is different to what it is 10 years ago.
'We've got a better understanding of trauma, making sure our officers are trauma informed, we've got a better focus on victims and being really victim-focused as opposed to driven for performance.
'We see a lot of reporting of really good convictions, really good jail sentences getting handed out and you like to think if a victim was seeing that and thinking 'should I come forward' that's going to be encouragement that people are listening.'
Det Supt Bertram also praised survivors who have spoken publicly both for helping police learn how to better work with victims to also inspire other women to come forward.
He said: 'We've seen a lot of survivors of rape and sexual crime standing outside court telling their story about where the criminal justice process either let them down or what could be improved.
'We're really proactive in that and try and contact these people and say 'would you be willing to speak to us' and then try to bring them in 'talk to us, in our case what did we get wrong, what could we do better'.
'I think that's really important.'
He continued: 'We've seen a lot of younger women coming forward to stand up and say 'I want to speak about this, I'm not bothered about being anonymous' and use that to encourage other people to come forward.
'I think that's really good and starts to show a different attitude from 'lets not talk about this because its taboo' to 'I want to tell you my story'.
'I think the more that that happens, then I think we're going to see a rise in reports.'
Prevention work is one of the key things police are working on, an example of which is the THAT Guy campaign which Police Scotland started in 2021 which aims to reduce rape, serious sexual assault and harassment by having frank conversations with men about attitudes and behaviour around women.
Det Supt Bertram said: 'Men are the problem, not all men, but they're also the solution.
'We've realised that, and we've changed out tact to how we approach the preventative side.
'So instead of saying what was that kind of victim blaming thing of 'don't do this, don't do that', actually you should be allowed to go out and enjoy yourself because that's your God-given right to do.
'The messaging has to go to men of 'you need to think about your own behaviour, you need to challenge your pals, don't be a bystander, do something about it'.'
Earlier this year, there were several posts on social media from women saying they were following by men, particularly in the city centre, and left feeling intimidated.
The Glasgow Times asked Det Supt Bertram if police in Glasgow had seen a rise in such incidents being reported.
He said police in Glasgow 'didn't see that' but has encouraged people to report such incidents.
He said: 'If anyone has a genuine concern, we'll always take things seriously, we're not saying because it's on social media and didn't get reported that it didn't happen but that if that comes into police as formal report it will be investigated.'
To report a rape or sexual assault, Police Scotland can be contacted on 101.
The Rape Crisis Scotland National Helpline can be contacted on 08088 01 03 02 daily from 6pm to midnight.
In an emergency call 999.
NHS Scotland provide dedicated Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCS) throughout Scotland.
'Archway' currently provides a service to Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire, Argyle and Bute, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.
They can be contacted on 0141 211 8175.