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.

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.”