Police Could Stop Raids On Suspected Brothels

The police should no longer raid brothels and do more to "support" sex workers, in new draft guidance described by some as a step towards decriminalising prostitution.

Controversial recommendations from police chiefs warn that brothel raids "create a mistrust of all external agencies", and advises forces in England and Wales to move away from enforcing laws which make it illegal to sell sex.

Although the police have been advised to prioritise the safety of sex workers since 2011, today's new National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) strategy goes further, introducing a new "responsibility to protect", and describing sex workers "not… as offenders per se but people who may become victims of crime".

NPCC Lead for Sex Workers, Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Holland, said: "The draft strategy makes clear that the majority of sex workers are not committing offences but that they are a vulnerable group that we have a responsibility to protect.

"The horrendous murder of five young women in Ipswich in 2006 highlighted the need to improve our response to vulnerable sex workers. Since 1990, there have been 152 sex workers murdered in the UK.

"There is no perfect solution to dealing with sex work and sexual exploitation but this strategy sets out an approach that considers risk, threat and harm to all and aims to tackle both neighbourhood nuisance and the exploitation of sex workers by organised criminals and gangs."

The new policing policy comes amidst increasing measures to create safe areas for sex workers to carry out business.

A "managed area" in Leeds introduced in 2014 has effectively decriminalised prostitution in Holbeck - an industrial area on the outskirts of the city centre - between 7pm and 7am, leaving sex workers and clients free to conduct transactions without facing arrest or questioning by police.  

n Liverpool the so-called "Merseyside Model" has seen police approach crimes against prostitutes as hate crimes since 2006, and a collaborative working between law enforcement and other services such as harm reduction, counselling and outreach.

Supporters of the scheme say that as a result sex workers are safer, and conviction rate for rapes in the Liverpool area have risen significantly above the national average.

Sky News spoke to women selling sex on the streets of Liverpool. Many spoke of violent assaults and rape but said they did feel they could report threats to the police.

"I have when I've pulled a punter up when he's wanted business, and he's put his hands behind me and dragged me up," said one woman working in the Kensington area of Liverpool, who did not want to named. "I've not experienced proper violence where I've been raped and that. I'm one of the lucky ones."

But the measures in Liverpool and Leeds have attracted anger among local residents and local businesses, who have complained of sex workers soliciting in public places and detritus such as condoms left in residential areas.

There are concerns that changes to the approach to policing prostitution is decriminalising the sex trade without parliamentary consent.

"We absolutely need a new approach to prostitution. But what it will take is for parliament to pass a new law. because at the moment our law sends really mixed messages," said Kat Banyard, from campaign group End Demand. "The job of police is not to manage sexual exploitation, it's to end it."