Street Pastors are volunteers; when on duty, they operate between 10pm and 4am on weekends trying to reach people who are out at that time.

Metropolitan Police figures shows that drug related arrests have risen by more than 65% since December 2001, when there were 916 reported street crimes, the highest ever figure in the UK. By December 2003, that total was down to 338, but despite this, Brixton still has the highest number of street crime and 75% of these crimes are drug related. Back in 2001, in the aftermath of September 11 attacks, street robberies were running at 30 a day, when many officers were redeployed on anti-terrorism duties. Today operation REFRESH, launched in September 2003, concentrates on high visibility and zero tolerance approach.