Shaping Vancouver culture: GRSJ student Stacey Forrester starts nightlife street team

In 2016 and 2017, there have been increasing reports of crime in the Granville Entertainment District including cases of stabbings, sexual assault and debit card theft. These incidences may be quite worrying to bar-goers in the area — this is where the Stacy Forrester’s “Night Life Street Team” comes into play.

Forrester is a GRSJ student at UBC and co-organizer for Good Night Out Vancouver. She is at the forefront of the Night Life Street Team as they move into their fourth weekend — Friday and Saturday nights from midnight to 3 a.m. — patrolling the Granville area in an aim to increase patron safety.

As a GRSJ student with a background in healthcare, Forrester’s fields of study played equally significant roles in motivating her to start the Nightlife Street Team initiative.

“I feel like safe public spaces are just as much a health issue as they are a social issue,” said Forrester.

She also explains that their concept originated “from an early grassroots feminist framework in that women and the queer community and everyone essentially deserves to feel safe in all aspects of their life.”

“One little incident is all it takes to kind of ruin a night out. You’ll be out, you’ll be having fun. Everything is going well and then someone will like kind of like you know, do a little grab as they pass by or kind of follow you around.” Forrester has repeatedly heard stories that pertained to these behaviours and she hopes that the Nightlife Street Team could help people enjoy Granville’s nightlife culture without having to worry much about harassment and other safety issues.

In addition to the behaviours Forrester mentions, statistics from the Vancouver Police Department show that the Central Business District area of Vancouver has the highest incidences of crime such as assault and robbery compared to other areas in Vancouver. Forrester acknowledges this issue and said that the team will be collecting statistics during their eight weeks.

A challenge she has faced is helping people realize that even though behaviours such as catcalling are not illegal, they are problematic and should not be normalized. Forrester observes that said behaviours cannot be easily reported to the police because no crimes are being committed and the police are often preoccupied with larger matters.

On their first weekend patrolling Granville, Forrester said that many people approached members of the team to ask about the project.

Approximately 60 per cent of those who received support from the Nightlife Street Team were women-identifying, while the other 40 per cent were men-identifying. Through these numbers, Forrester emphasized that women-identifying patrons are not the only ones who are affected. The team itself is a diverse group made up of men and women from a variety of backgrounds, including some UBC students.

If the Nightlife Street Team is successful at the end of the eight weeks, they will consider expanding the project to other areas of Downtown Vancouver.

The team initially had a main volunteer group and began reaching out to their friends to fill shifts. They will also be recruiting new members if the project is extended.

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