‘Not the sex police’ – it’s about consent
Police in Auckland have launched a sexual assault prevention campaign, described by an officer as ‘‘not the sex police’’.
The ‘‘Don’t Guess The Yes’’ campaign has been launched in time for Christmas party season. First run in Wellington in 2018, it was relaunched here last week and has now been rolled out in Auckland.
Police called the Wellington initiative a success, but couldn’t point to statistical evidence for why the campaign should be extended to Auckland. Instead, police said figures would be available next year.
The campaign will run with a social media and poster campaign raising consent awareness for drinkers and would further train hospitality staff on how to spot abuse early.
The campaign targets men aged 18 to 30 and will focus on city drinking haunts in areas such as the Viaduct, Karangahape Rd and Ponsonby.
‘‘We’re not the sex police, it’s not about that,’’ Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend said.
Friend, who will run the Auckland campaign, said he wanted to change people’s attitudes around drinking and sexual consent. ‘‘It’s about working with people out there to prevent harm occurring.’’
Detective Sergeant Jacqui Rodger, who runs the Wellington initiative, said there were no measured statistics for the campaign, but some people who had seen it had come forward as a result.
Rodger said police wanted to change attitudes around alcohol consumption and build relationships with hospitality venues which would hold evidence for a potential prosecution.
‘‘We’re creating that conversation, creating the safe environment – that if someone has been harmed that we’re here to support you, and we want you to come forward and we want to talk to you,’’ Rodger said.
Sally Tau of Hospitality New Zealand said one benefit of the campaign was making punters aware they were under watch from staff.
Tau said hospitality workers already used tactics like wiping down tables and offering food and water to try and gauge how drunk or aggressive a person might be, and to give the other person a chance to leave. ‘‘In our bars, when it comes to sex consent it needs to be crystal clear,’’ Tau said.
She said Don’t Guess The Yes would further train hospitality staff to spot potential abuse and help bars improve their evidencekeeping abilities including with CCTV and body cameras on security.
Scott Beard, the detective inspector who led the investigation into Grace Millane’s murderer, Jesse Kempson, said how police treated sexual crime had changed completely over the past 15 years.
‘‘Don’t Guess The Yes is about a prevention message,’’ Beard said. ‘‘It’s about those people who think that they can go out drinking, meet somebody, bribe them with drinks to get what they want.’’