By Tristian Whitney

PSNI officers intervened to stop predatory behaviour six times in Derry on Halloween night, the organisation has revealed.

Derry police commander, Gillian Kearney said one of the incidents involved a child from a children’s home. Chief Superintendent Kearney was speaking at an update on a new anti-predator scheme, Project Vigilant.

She said plain-clothes and uniformed teams also made an arrest for upskirting on the first night of Project Vigilant which targets suspected predatory behaviour around pubs and clubs.

Chief Superintendent Kearney said officers would have “eyes and ears” in nightlife areas, and would not always be in uniform, stepping in before a serious sexual offence occurred.

Chief Kearney said: “A lot of people, particularly women and girls, are not feeling safe when out at night.”

The pilot will run through the festive period, with the PSNI planning to formalise the operation across all districts in 2026. Officers will look for behaviours such as harassment, loitering without reason and stalking.

Police framed the launch against recent figures showing 2,423 reported rapes and sexual assaults not linked to domestic abuse in the 12 months to July 31, 2025.

During that period, 320 of them occurred between 10pm and 6am.

Alongside the patrols, the PSNI introduced an internal mapping tool that gathers reports of violence, abuse or intimidation of women and girls to identify hotspot streets and target resources.

Anyone who has been the victim of a sexual assault can report it online or by calling 101. In an emergency, call 999.