Twenty-five Christian volunteers are already in training and should be available at the beginning of January, initially operating on Friday and Saturday nights.

The move comes as new figures show public order related offences in Inverness in August and September jumped from 1817 last year to 2191 this year.

There has also been an increase in minor assaults, and anti-social behaviour and breaches of the peace and drunkenness continue to be a problem.

The street pastors scheme is a joint initiative between Northern Constabulary and Inverness churches, including Inverness Community Church, The Barn Church (Church of Scotland), The Kings Fellowship, the Christian Outreach Centre and Inverness Bible Fellowship.

"We will offer help when people need it," explained street pastor co-ordinator, Mark Hadfield, who leads Inverness Community Church.

"Pastor means shepherd, someone who cares. We don't want to go out and preach to people."

Mr Hadfield explained street pastors would help fill the gap between an incident brewing and police being called.

"We certainly think there is a need," he continued.

"As part of their training, some street pastors were walking around a couple of weeks ago and they got some very positive feedback.

"We will see how it goes but we certainly view it as a long-term thing."

He said, for example, volunteers would provide blankets to cold and wet revellers, who might be waiting for a taxi, or help to people under the influence of alcohol or people who are upset.

Police chief inspector Ian Cox said the initiative harked back to the idea of the Good Samaritan.

"Their main role will be to make themselves available, to listen to people and to care and to provide support and help," he said.

He explained police received a high number of calls on a Friday and Saturday night and although volunteers will work independently, they will be trained to diffuse high-pressure situations, which could potentially develop into police incidents.

Street pastors is a nationwide scheme run by the Ascension Trust. It started in Brixton, South London, in 2003, and has developed in cities throughout England.

The initiative was launched in Aberdeen last month and will be taken up in Perth next year.

Meanwhile, Northern Constabulary chief constable Ian Latimer will tell police board members on Thursday that serious crimes of violence in the Inverness command area have decreased from 97 in August and September 2006 to 84 over the same period this year. Vandalism also fell from 828 to 783. However, there has been an increase in housebreaking and shop-lifting.

Drug-related crimes have risen from 940 to 1072, but Mr Latimer believes this is due to his force's robust stance on drug crime.

There has also been a rise in the instances of predatory males seeking to groom young teenage girls through social networking websites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace.

Earlier this year, Northern Constabulary's child protection unit issued a warning about the potential dangers of internet blog sites after concerned parents contacted the police and the force is backing a Christmas campaign by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

h.paterson@inverness-courier.co.uk

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