Operation Rigging: Here's how Portsmouth police have responded to a 'terrifying' spate of incidents targeting women

After a 20-year-old woman became separated from her friends and was then raped near the Hippodrome House Car Park during a night out last June, the incident threw into stark relief the dangers facing young women after dark in the city centre.

Following the attack came 18 incidents of drink and needle spiking between July and October last year, leading to a student boycott of clubs and events in order to highlight the problem.

Now, police around the clubs and bars in hotspots like Guildhall Walk and Gunwharf Quays have ramped up their tactics to clamp down on threatening behaviour.

It comes with the creation of a dedicated city centre police team – made up of a police sergeant and three officers - working alongside dozens of street pastors, door staff at bars and clubs, and a paramedic team stationed in a ‘safe space’ inside the council offices.

Anyone found persistently subjecting women to sexual language or unwanted approaches is now likely to be issued a warning – or even banished from an area.

Since June, officers have issued 66 warnings – called Community Protection Warning Notices – and six orders banishing specific individuals from the city’s night time hot-spots, which can be lifetime bans.

Police sergeant Paul Marshall, who has worked in policing for 32 years, said the last two years has seen an increase in the number of calls as the public and bar staff become better at spotting distressing behaviour.

With The News joining a night-time patrol, the 55-year-old said: ‘(Hampshire Constabulary) is looking to expand the work here – and there is certainly the need for it. It's the volume of calls.’

Paul said officers see suspected predatory behaviour every week.

He said: ‘You see cars going around and around the block.

‘Sometimes they are hanging around in vehicles waiting for people to come out.’

Colin Pollard, a licensing officer with the police, said: ‘It’s not rife – but it does happen. We know the vehicles that do this.’

Colin added: ‘We have seen an increase in the number of calls coming in, but I don’t see that as an increase in incidents happening. It’s society becoming more aware of what’s acceptable.’

Now Paul hopes that people take note of both the risks on a night out – and the teams on hand to ensure everyone’s safety.

Paul said: ‘A lot of it is reducing the fear of crime.’

For a group of women outside The Astoria nightclub in Guildhall Walk, concerns about their safety remained ever-present on a night out, with one 21-year-old saying that street harassment had ‘definitely got worse’.

The young woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘It's alright in the day and in a group at night you’re fine. But we wouldn’t walk home on our own – we would have people coming up to us. You get that everywhere.’

Another club-goer, 18-year-old Kayleigh from Whiteley, said videos on social media detailing harassment and intimidation aimed at women had left her more concerned.

Detailing an incident that mirrored a reported ‘trend’ to target women, she said: ‘The other night I found some fabric wrapped around my car wing mirror. It hadn’t been there earlier in the night.’

Kayleigh said that women have reported similar incidents online where they claim the fabric was laced with harmful chemicals.

Hampshire Constabulary have set up 50 Safe Spaces across the county to provide women and girls with a place to seek shelter, staffed by paramedics and security teams.

At the safe space set up inside the council’s offices in Guildhall Square – signposted by reoccurring videos on the square’s big screen – paramedic Maxine Bathe said she is shocked by the number of heavily intoxicated people who need help and turn up on their own.

The paramedic of 28 years said: ‘It can be absolute carnage in here. Unfortunately a lot of people who are highly intoxicated come in without friends. They are left behind, and the friends carry on clubbing.’

Anyone too drunk to leave the triage area on their own will be taken to hospital, where they will be given a bed for the night while they sober up, according to Maxine.

Maxine added: ‘People say, ‘Oh I will be fine’, and we have to say, ‘we cannot leave you’, and they have to go to an emergency department.’

Door staff at Pryzm nightclub say that the vast majority of people understand that they will be searched on entry and suspicious couples – where women appear in distress or more intoxicated than a male companion – will be questioned on leaving.

Searches can turn up some surprising items, according to one bouncer.

He said: ‘One guy tried to come in with two jars of pickles. I have no idea why – maybe he had the midnight munchies.’

But following the stabbing of four men Tokyo Joe’s nightclub last month, punters are more concerned about being attacked.

Enjoying a night out with friends, 18-year-old Wil Midgley said: ‘We have heard what’s happened around here, and we’re glad (the police) are doing more work. It's good they are getting on top of it.’