This article is in lieu of promoting our Noisy Night Out fundraiser for Street Assist. Please refer to the images below for more information on the event and buy your tickets prior to April 6th or at the door on the night for an additional fee of £2.
If you are affected by any of the matters addressed by this article (i.e. spiking), resources can be located below. 
The object of this article is to reopen a dialogue that was prematurely abandoned: spiking. Since the injection epidemic of 2021, spiking never ceased to exist; only people's engagement with prevention did. Indeed, spiking was an issue long before the media acknowledged it as so. We must not forget that the fight to end spiking is relevant until the total abolition of the Patriarchy.
No Good Apples Fall From a Rotten Tree
Notably, the Patriarchy is deeply interwoven into Capitalism, meaning that clubs were largely unfazed by the surge in spiking until their profit fluctuated with it. This sudden flux was owed to Girls Night In, a campaign urging marginalised groups to avoid clubs until safety measures were implemented. It engendered clubs to take accountability and clear their debt to customers who paid an entrance fee into unsafe property. Overdue apologies cannoned in after October 28th, with many clubs launching anti-spiking projects to improve their feminine demographic. Girls Night In served as a reminder that power is to the people.
That said, The Noisy Movement's concern is with whether these safety measures are performative for we want more than just compensation - we want change. Subscribing to the Capitalist norm that relationships between customer and provider are merely transactional, many clubs have shamelessly fed us false promises. Illustrating this is a club located in Edinburgh's hotspot for rape culture. The club is plastered in 'this is not an excuse' and zero tolerance posters but has failed to train their bouncers on what is appropriate to say to customers among entrance. The critic will say that I must not allow my personal experience to make me bitter against all door staff. However, this is not an isolated incident. This paradox between how a club treats its customers versus their own staff is lamented by discussion forums by The Student Rooms and club reviews. Noisy Night Out is addressing this by training staff with external forces and providing a safe space to those who may be too intoxicated, seeking medical attention or simply in need of a breather. We believe this to be a pragmatic alternative to throwing clubbers out on the streets alone when they are evidently in a vulnerable state - something Neil, Street Assist's director, has identified as a trend in Night Time Economy.
Similarly, Noisy Night Out improves the quality of the safety measures implemented. Some clubs, in alliance with other institutions often accused of maltreatment (i.e. Police), thought extra security was an easy solution to this systemic problem. This was a mere band-aid over a gaping hole. For marginalised identities, this deepened their wound through a fear of boundaries being crossed during pat-down searches and racial profiling. Noisy Night Out replaces these intrusive procedures by using StopTops and other anti-spiking devices. Likewise, we will have Street Assist on standby, who assure that their volunteers are dressed in identifiable yet approachable attire to avoid authoritative pressure.
Girls Night In Sought for Safer Settings,
Noisy Night Out Rallies the Improvement of these Instalments.
Speaking more on what their project has to offer is Neil, Street Assist's founder, as interviewed by Aleyna, The Noisy Movement's blog manager:
Can you name one incident that defines what working for Street Assist means to you?
Struggling to narrow down his experience of working for Street Assist to one case, Neil begins broadly with: "the fact that three people [...] can probably say that they're still alive today because we made an intervention [is fulfilling]. I think, in general terms, every single job we attend has made some sort of impact, even if it is very low level". Humbly, Neil's reference to a "low level" impact is not so low level at all. I responded by alluding to the fact that they had recently provided someone with a charger. At face value, this may not seem significant. However, when you factor in that everything from bus passes to phone numbers are stored on a phone, having it fully charged for your safe arrival home is essential. This stimulated the conversation of "the message [Street Assist is] trying to get across: vulnerability is not that narrow [...] charging somebodies phone is equally as important [as walking them home]. That is a small thing that is not well enough known".
In the midst of conversing, Neil recalls "one job in particular where a boy was bottled in a night club and it caused an interior bleed and if we hadn't been there [he may not still be here today]".
To clarify, are your services open to all people? Which demographic uses your services the most?
"We are a totally non-judgmental service; we will deal with anything that comes our way [...] for sure eighteen to twenty five is our biggest age group". Neil begins to justify his latter statement with the fact that Edinburgh is a student city and most people in this age group take advantage of the Night Time Economy venues the city has to offer.
When sex is factored in, "it is roughly a fifty fifty split between males and females [...] in that fifty fifty, fifty percent of the females are alone". Alarmingly, female friends are known to abandon their own or lose them quickly for clubs are more likely to kick them out in their intoxicated state. Noisy Night Out aims to buck this trend alongside Street Assist as they advise clubbers to "make sure you stick with your friends".
How are your volunteers trained?
Street Assist is practical in its "learn on the job" approach for the primary qualifications like empathy and compassion are "not something you can really teach people". That said, those interested in volunteering undergo a myriad of training, including bystander training, first aid training, wellness sessions and personal safety training to demonstrate that safety and security in self is paramount to helping others. Neil identifies this as "one of the beauties of volunteering is that it is self-medicating". To that end, many of Street Assist's volunteers "want to volunteer to use their experience as a means to help others".
Owed to the open mindedness of Street Assist volunteers, "[the vulnerable] often reveal information to us that might be a reason for them being in that situation [...] it comes through accident though [...] they self-medicate and when they have that friendly ear [...] it helps a lot within the project". Street Assist's resistance of judgement and authority have aided people in ways that mental health services couldn't for they "wouldn't even speak to them on the phone if they have taken drugs".
Objectively, Neil states: "there is no such thing as one size fits all [...] too many services have a straight-line way of looking". By acknowledging the complexities of human living and the vast array of ways vulnerability can manifest, Street Assist's volunteers are open to everybody.
How was your service effected by the spiking epidemic of 2021?
"The number of calls we got from night clubs prior to lockdown in the same time period of 2021 [...] the number of calls we took more than doubled. From ten jobs a night back in 2019, we did thirty to forty jobs a night in the same time frame".
Honouring club's efforts to divert the bad press, Neil says "a lot of clubs have actually done a lot to try and address [...] with searches and anti-spiking devices and HD cameras put into night clubs".
In regards to reporting, these HD cameras improve quality of reports. On improving prosecution rates, Neil suggested "letting the venue know as much as possible and the police as soon as possible to provide a urine sample".
Have you since dealt with cases of spiking? If so, have you seen a change in the number of and types of cases?
"I think it was locked into that period. The press supports all of it [...] since then, the level of potential spikings have dropped significantly". This is owed largely to the public's precaution and club's intervention, hence Noisy Night Out championing these measures.
Can you explain some of the Acts you are trying to get passed with the Police?
"Making an intervention of any kind is better than doing nothing at all [...] there is some kind of desire to create something that is almost like a charter [...] we are all working towards that common goal".
Following the spiking epidemic of 2021, new interest was generated in regards to the project. Street Assist reported more "calls coming from the general public because normally our calls come from Police or CCTV operators". Evidently, cooperation between services is essential for that way "vulnerability can be dealt with very quickly". This is why Noisy Night Out has invited as many services as thought of to support the cause.
How should Night-Time Economy businesses improve the overall night out experience for vulnerable people?
"I think, to be fair, they're already doing this, under this potential charter we are talking about, we can do a lot".
Stressing his previous comments, Neil asks all clubs to follow the same guidelines with the same rules implemented to avoid mass hysteria. In the same vein, he urges bouncers to be "a bit more subtle" in the way they dress. As previously stated, Street Assist volunteers do not conform to authoritative procedures that make the vulnerable perceive them as unsympathetic. To that end, "one of the things clubs could do is looking approachable but also be taken seriously".
Resources
I. Strut Safe
Instagram: @Strutsafe
Call: 0333 335 0026
Times: Fri-Sat 19:00-03:00
Sun 19:00-01:00
Email: strutsafe@gmail.com
II. Rape Crisis Scotland
Website: rapecrisisscotland.org.uk
Call: 0808 801 0302
07537 410 027
Times: 18:00-00.00
III. Men’s Advice Line
Call: 0808 801 0327
Times: Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00
IV. Scotland’s Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Hotline
Call: 0800 027 1234
Times: 24hrs
V. Men Standing Up
Call: 0300 303 0167
VI. Anah Project
Call: 0845 960 6011
VII. Black Minds Matter UK
Website: blackmindsmatteruk.com
VIII. Street Assist
Call: 07708 351200
Times: Fri-Sat 22:00-04:00
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