CALLS are being made for every night-time worker in Glasgow to be given rape prevention training in a bid to tackle sex crimes.

Around 50 police officers working in licensing across Scotland have already been trained to offer staff - from bar workers to bouncers and taxi stewards - the skills to safely intervene to help stop a potential sexual assault.

And Chief Inspector Graham Goulden, the Violence Reduction Unit's (VRU) anti-violence campaign coordinator, hopes the message "silence is violence" will be spread through the training programme to every night-time worker in the city.

It came after the Evening Times told earlier this year how sex crimes in Glasgow had risen by almost a third in the past six years.

A total of 1109 sexual assaults were reported to police last year in the city - an increase of 31.5% since 2006/07 when 843 were recorded.

As part of the bystander approach training, a video is shown to highlight rape prevention.

Mr Goulden said: "Silence is violence. It is the infection that allows violence to continue.

"The aim is to get the message across. I'd like every member of staff in Glasgow to have seen it.

"We need to be engaging our staff."

The film, called Who Are You?, came from New Zealand, and was adapted by Mr Goulden and his team for Scotland.

It shows a night out where an intoxicated woman is preyed upon by a man in a nightclub.

There are several moments when a bystander could have intervened but it ends with the man back at the woman's house with her passed out on the bed.

Mr Goulden said: "We discuss what would have happened in that room and ask if people are happy with that.

"It is uncomfortable viewing.

"But in the film a member of the public who saw them didn't intervene, a man in the club doesn't intervene, her friend doesn't do anything and a bar worker doesn't do anything.

"Often people point the finger at a bystander and say why didn't you do something but it is hard to speak up."

THE idea is to encourage people who see something they are unhappy with to act on it.

Mr Goulden said: "For example a member of bar staff could ask who she is here with.

"If it's her friends then he or she can get them and they can take over.

"It's not about putting yourself in danger - there are ways of safely intervening."

The Garage, which employs just under 50 workers, has been one of the first bars to get involved with the project.

Almost all of their staff have been shown the video and given the training.

Assistant manager Lianne Bain said: "It definitely makes a big difference.

"It means we are all trained to notice something earlier in the night and potentially stop something from happening.

"We have another training day coming up for the staff who haven't been through it yet. It involves everyone - the door staff, the glass collectors, the bar workers."

Another assistant manager Iain Alexander said: "All of our policies are geared towards keeping people safe and this is why we are involved with the training."

The approach is being backed by Police Scotland.

Detective Super-intendent Louise Raphael, of the National Rape Task Force, said: "The work we are engaged in with the VRU in terms of this particular project is part of a broader rape prevention strategy.

"We recognise that unfortunately there are some men who will target women having identified that they are vulnerable.

"Sometimes that vulnerability is as a result of alcohol consumption, but there are many other types of vulnerability.

"Most of us have at some point in our lives been witness to an incident that we are not entirely comfortable about, this model encourages us to stop and think and to take some action rather than just walk away. By doing so it may just prevent a rape or serious sexual assault."

MS Raphael said the plan was to now work with VRU to expand the project to include people outside the night-time economy.

She said: "Having received such a favourable response, our intention is to extend the bystander approach to other areas and groups."

Campaign groups have welcomed the move.

Glasgow-based information and resource worker Eileen Maitland, of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: "It is encouraging to see VRU and Police Scotland taking such a proactive approach against predatory sex offenders.

"This sends an important message that what might appear to be an intimate situation should not be taken at face value, particularly when one party is very drunk or otherwise incapacitated.

"For too long the assump-tion has been it is entirely down to women to protect themselves from sexual violence. The sooner we acknowledge that this is everyone's responsibility, the sooner we will see a reduction in this sort of attack, and women on nights out can with justification feel safer."

rachel.loxton@eveningtimes.co.uk