San Francisco’s 44th Annual LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade will take place over the weekend of Friday June 27 through Sunday June 29, attracting upwards of 750,000 plus visitors to the city and an estimated 50,000 plus attendees at the annual Pink Saturday party in the Castro neighborhood on 6/28.
Recognizing the challenges such a huge influx of visitors can pose, a multi-agency safety poster campaign has been launched in the week running up to SF Pride weekend, to remind visitors and residents alike of some simple steps they can take to help ensure they remain safe, have fun, and take away only good memories and experiences from San Francisco Pride 2014.
Endorsed by the SF PRIDE organization and developed by the San Francisco Safety Coalition partners which included the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Patrol Special Police, San Francisco Safety Awareness For Everyone, Community Patrol USA, Castro Community On Patrol, the SFDA LGBT Steering Committee, the SFPD Chief’s LGBT Community Advisory Forum and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Stop the Violence project.
“Our hope and goal is to get this simple messaging into as many hands and minds as possible in the lead in to PRIDE weekend,” said Chief Ken Craig of Community Patrol USA.
“The incredible party atmosphere and joyous occasion that SF PRIDE offers each year sometimes lead to people dropping their guard a little. With the help of our partner agencies and the SF PRIDE organization itself, we want to encourage people to have fun, but to be safe at the same time.”
Replicating the New York City MTA and Federal Government Homeland Security “If you see something, Say something” program, the posters encourage everyone to be alert to their surroundings and to be willing to report anything suspicious or unusual to some authority figure.
“Many people see things and decide not to call or take action because they think someone else has probably already called, or their suspicion is too insignificant to be worth a call to police or security,” added Chief Greg Carey of Castro Community On Patrol.
“Sadly, many assaults, robberies and other heinous crimes may have been nipped in the bud or significantly mitigated if only witnesses who were initially suspicious had made that all important call.”
“We cannot emphasize more strongly how critically important it can be for EVERYONE to be aware and willing to call police or appropriate authorities if they see ANYTHING unusual or suspicious during PRIDE and throughout the year.”
For more information on SF PRIDE, or the events taking place over PRIDE weekend, check out the SF PRIDE official web site.
“CCOP B SAFE 4 PRIDE Poster 2014” PDF Poster. Please feel free to print and post wherever you have permission to do so.