In the past two years, the municipality of Eindhoven has received 170 reports of street intimidation via a special stop intimidation app. Of these, 125 reports came from women. Eindhoven is therefore at the top of the Brabant municipalities.
Since November 2023, Eindhoven has been using the Stop Intimidation app as a reporting point. Residents of Eindhoven can report various forms of street intimidation. Up to and including 17 September, the municipality received a total of 170 reports from Nafluit, calling, touching, annoying or threatening with violence.
Most incidents took place in the center: in and around the station, the shopping area and entertainment area. “Given the current events around this subject, we are not immediately shocked by the number of reports,” says Tim van Leeuwen, spokesperson for the municipality of Eindhoven. “It lives very much in society. By giving a lot of attention to the hotline, we see that people actually report.”
We took to the streets in Eindhoven to ask how safe women feel on the street:
Refer
Residents can make a report both anonymously and name. Anyone who chooses the latter can indicate whether he or she would like to talk to the municipality. “We call them within three days after the report and offer a listening ear to be able to find out if there is a request for help. If he wants help, he or she will be referred to an appropriate organization.”
The reports help the municipality to gain a better view of the extent of the problem. “Based on the reports, we look at whether additional measures are needed, such as adjustments in public space or extra enforcement,” says Van Leeuwen.
“We also learn what types of street intimidation often occur, at what location, at what time and under which age group. In addition, we see whether it is happening in a group and whether the perpetrator was an acquaintance.” All this information is used for campaigns and training.
Women’s safety in Brabant
Omroep Brabant pays attention to the safety of women in our province. The reason is the broad discussion that arose after the murder of 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam. With a series of stories we map out how this lives in Brabant and we try to show that the problem is complicated and there are no ready -made solutions.
Figures from municipalities
To gain insight into the number of reports of street intimidation, Omroep Brabant made a survey at municipalities in our province. Of the 28 municipalities that responded to the question of how many reports of street intimidation they received in the past year, twenty municipalities indicated that they had not received any reports.
Eindhoven received the most reports so far and is followed by Tilburg, with 82 reports since 2023. The other six municipalities, including Waalwijk and Den Bosch, varies the number of reports between 1 and 13.
It is not known how many of these reports have actually led to a declaration. Police East Brabant and Police West-Brabant-Zeeland say they have no concrete figures about the number of declarations of unwanted harassment or street intimidation.
Figures about insecurity
Research by Statistics Netherlands in 2023 shows that the general feelings of insecurity of Dutch people have fallen by 30 percent compared to 2005. Women often feel unsafe than men.
Almost half of the 15 to 25-year-old women sometimes walk or drive around in their neighborhood to avoid places they find unsafe. This is according to figures that the CBS published in July. Women do that more often than men in all age groups; For men this is around 20 percent.
The more urban the living environment, the more people in their neighborhood avoid walking by walking or driving.