Shocking violent and sexual assault figures revealed as Southampton city centre campaign launches
Tap to watch a video report by ITV News Meridian's Kara Digby
Shocking statistics have revealed more than 14,000 violent and sexual assaults were reported in Southampton over the last year, with most happening at night.
The figures, an increase from around 12,000 reports the year before, come as the city's student union launches a campaign, alongside authorities, to raise awareness of sexual harassment and to crackdown on the harmful behaviour.
Southampton Says Enough's focus on the night-time economy will look at ways to introduce extra security at bars and clubs, increase the number of CCTV cameras and improve street lighting.
Some people in the city told ITV News how they are left feeling anxious on a night out
Data from a survey conducted by The Student Room and Revolt Sexual Assault showed six in ten University students have been sexually assaulted.
Meanwhile, only one in ten reported their encounters to the authorities.
Aycha Ates, Vice President for Welfare and Community, Southampton Students Union says,
"A lot of our students use venues in the city - whether this be night clubs and a lot of our students works at the hospital and do shift work - and come back at night at sometimes coming home from work and being out at night just isn't safe for them and so we really wanted to tackle that head on by working with people in the community."
Chris Brown, Community Cohesion Manager said,
"We're trying to improve those feelings of safety. It's a tough one to turn around because there's lots of variable factors in the city centre.
"But we've got to start, we've got to do something about this and this is one way we can do working with partners and police, and venues themselves to try and improve safety within the city."
Councillor Matt Renyard, Cabinet Member for Safer City, said,
"We've increased the number of female security in and around the city and health and wellbeing - to engage with young people as they find themselves in a difficult situation when the night doesn't go as they expect. We've invested in extra staff into our CCTV that monitor the city as a whole, including training them in looking for behaviours that may present as perpatrative behaviour."