Bristol kerb crawlers sign up to ‘attitude course’
Seventy-six men caught kerb crawling in Bristol have attended a course to change their attitude to prostitutes.
It is a year since Change Course was launched and only one man has been caught kerb crawling a second time.
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ristol kerb crawlers sign up to ‘attitude course’
The re-offender was subsequently charged and fined £295.
The new way of tackling the age-old problem was launched by Safer Bristol, the partnership of key public agencies including the police, city council and fire service.
Men arrested for kerb crawling are now given a choice – appear in court and face prosecution and public shame or pay £200 to attend a Change Course session.
These day-long sessions, which aim to change the offenders’ attitudes to paying women for sex, have proved remarkably successful.
Twenty-seven men have signed up for the next course.
Chief Inspector Cath Johnstone said: “In the past, police tactics have simply displaced the problem. We are sensitive to this when exercising our powers and do so in a far more considered way today.
“The aim is to prevent or divert offenders and to rehabilitate them where possible to try and stop the cycle.
“Change Course is already having a major impact in the areas that suffer most from street prostitution. Falling demand will mean we can offer more street sex workers a way out.”
The impact has already been felt in areas where the street sex market attracts other crimes such as drug dealing and violence.
Nearly £5,000 has been raised from the sessions to date, after deducting costs, and this money has been given to affected communities to improve the local environment.
Each course educates the men about the realities of prostitution, the fact that they are taking advantage of vulnerable women and the cycle that they are perpetrating, which is keeping women on the streets.
Kerb crawlers are told of the risks they face from buying sex in terms of health and legal implications and the impact their behaviour has on their lives, their families and the local communities where they were caught kerb crawling.
Change Course forms one part of Safer Bristol’s draft ‘Street Sex Market Strategy’ which has four key aims:
• Preventing women becoming involved in prostitution.
• Giving women a way out through drug treatment and other support services
• Ensuring the safety of prostitutes and increasing the reporting and conviction rates for men who attack them.
• Reducing demand, including inviting first-time kerb crawler offenders to attend Change Course.
Safer Bristol chairman Brian McCutcheon, said: “By adopting this end-to-end approach to street sex work we hope to address the issue at the core. The street vice trade is just one aspect of prostitution but it is the element that impacts most on community life.
“By tackling kerb crawlers and providing support and rehabilitation for street workers we can reduce the demand, break this damaging cycle and build community confidence.
“This is another example of how, by working together, we can all make a difference in our communities.”
Many of Bristol’s prostitutes are also intravenous drug users caught in an endless spiral of selling sex to buy drugs.
According to NHS Bristol there are several hundred street-based sex workers in the city with a history of class A drug use.
Unsurprisingly, these sex workers also suffered extremely poor physical and mental health. They are also at huge risk of violence, including rape, kidnap, contracting sexually transmitted infections and even death.
Research shows two-thirds of Bristol’s prostitutes are homeless or at risk of being made homeless.
Many sleep in car parks, crack houses, with clients or on floors, further exposing them to the risk of violence.
PC Tina Newman, a vice liaison officer, said: “These women are incredibly vulnerable. They are putting themselves in dangerous situations on a daily basis by getting into cars with strangers. Our aim is to work with our partner agencies to help the women get off the streets and make better lives for themselves.”
12 Comments
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by paul, bristol
Tuesday, April 21 2009, 12:28AM
“seems to be working only saw 12 prostitutes there the other day good use of police money still keeps em off the streets from beating people to death and staying it was a heart attack hay”
by helen sworn, Cambodia, SE Asia
Thursday, April 16 2009, 10:16AM
“I used to live in Bristol.. now i am working on these issues in Cambodia, Asia and tackling the demand issues - the men who are buying sex is the best way forward.. we are doing similar work with changing attitudes rather than prosecuting and stigmatising the women.”
by Blame it on men, Bristol
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 6:45PM
“It is sad that women do this.Although it is no good blaming men.We are born with a urge to have sex with women.It can be a real pain and only gets easier as we get older i believe.Blame it on God or the Devil or any one.No one as a go at gay men on the downs.Yet a natural urge is seen as bad.I am glad we are not like Elephants in must.Because there would be a lot of men with chains around there legs.I love looking at the women in the summer time along with most men.Although i have not considered paying for sex i do think it could be a option.”
by steven, germany
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 1:11PM
“England seem,s to still be in the victorian times when it comes to attitudes over sex,there never seems to be any problem in any european land wher prostitution is legal,the brothels are contained in one small area of the cities,the women have a safe place to work,they have to have regular checkups at the clinic + the city get tax revinue.it would seem that everyone involved benefits.come on England move with the times,it,s better men go to prostituts than get frustrated and take it out on innocent women.”
by Pogo the Clown, Fortress Pogo
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 11:44AM
“If you want to stop this menace, you need to target the pimps where they're vulnerable - their pockets.
The government need to open a series of legal brothels in problem areas. By keeping the prices artificially low, they could put the criminals out of business.
As a married man, I'd be happy for a portion of my council tax to finance such a scheme.
(Just don't tell the wife)”
by Ali, Bristol
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 11:17AM
“Why can't the prostitutes be treated in the same way. A friend lives in Fishponds Road where most of them wait for their customers. She has to pass them day in day out, night in night out with her toddler in a buggy - nice - NOT!”
by Car Owner, Bristol
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 11:15AM
“If the bus fares were cheaper they would not have to "kerb crawl" in cars at all. I blame this on Firstbus, reduce your fares now!.”
by Grahame P, Central Bristol
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 11:14AM
“Living where I do, there are frequently loads of street prostitutes hanging around, and their pimping drug dealers. Educating men about the perils of paying for sex is perhaps one thing that can be done but it'll only scratch the surface. When PC Tina Newman says these women are incredibly vulnerable, she's telling the truth. But these women have often made themselves so through their drug addiction.
Being a class A drug user is to repeatedly engage in a criminal act. I'm sure there are many drug-addled burglars who are incredibly vulnerable too, but you can't reason with hardened drug addicts and I have about zero sympathy for them. They're mostly scum who can't see beyond their next fix. That's why most of the public unfortunate enough to come into contact with them aren't really interested in providing support for these self-victimised half-wits.
Trying to reduce demand from kerb crawling saddoes is merely tinkering. To make a real impact we'd have to enforce the law and lock up people who use class A drugs. But we don't and that's why an estimated 70% of crime continues to be drug-related. Street prostitution is a symptom of over-tolerant policing of drug-abusers. We need to stop treating these people as victims and stop insulating them from the consequences of their actions. Lock up drug-addled criminals and stop treating them like they deserve our sympathy!”
by kev, brstl
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 10:18AM
“if the prostitutes were not there in the first place , men wouldnt go looking for them .they wont move the girls from the streets ...why not ?? cos pimps own them and that is the bigger issue ... and the moneys raised goes back into the community ha ha . what a joke”
by Paul, St George
Tuesday, April 14 2009, 9:39AM
“At least it is a start.
Negativity and sarcasm will get you nowhere, Anon.
"L"”