Police and charity join forces to keep Swindon sex workers safe

Wiltshire Police is working with charity The Nelson Trust to support women in the town. The force has given up prosecuting the sex workers, instead going after their clients.

Last year, officers said they were monitoring up to 190 women involved in sex work, most of whom based in Swindon. There were an estimated 40 pop-up brothels in the county, with reports doubling between 2014 and 2015.

PC Lou Kuklinski, Wiltshire Police’s adult sexual exploitation manager, said: “Street sex workers are at constant risk. The threats range from drug networks which may have some form of control over them, violent punters who are mainly complete strangers, and abusive partners who often have similar drug dependency issues.

“In Swindon, specialist officers in plain clothes and an unmarked vehicle are on hand to provide reassurance both for sex workers and the people seeking to help them.”

Officers go out at least once a week with the Nelson Trust’s outreach workers. The charity has its own van, fitted out as a mobile sexual health clinic. Women are able to get food, clothes, emergency alarms and pay-as-you-go phones from the charity workers.

Katie Lewis, who coordinates the Nelson Trust’s sex worker outreach project in Swindon, said: “We provide emotional and practical support through regular community worker sessions and outreach.

“We work in partnership with the police, which women are aware of. Our partnership working has increased women’s confidence to report incidents to the police.” More women are now reporting violent punters through the website National Ugly Mugs, she added.

Across Swindon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire in 2017, the Nelson Trust says it worked with more than 90 sex workers. It helped one in 10 get out of the industry.

The charity says homelessness and drugs gangs are a growing issue.

Katie said: “We’re finding that homelessness has got worse in the area, but we’re providing better access to treatment and we’re also finding tents for those women. The women are at huge risk of being influenced by the dangerous drug networks.”

These ‘county lines’ gangs are London based, using children and vulnerable adults to sell heroin and crack cocaine in Swindon. Women can find themselves cuckooed by violent dealers and their homes used as drug dens. The Nelson Trust’s Katie warned that some had been sexually exploited by the dealers too.

PC Kuklinski said Wiltshire Police were after the men who take advantage of sex workers: “People sometimes wonder why we don’t actively seek to prosecute street sex workers. The answer is simple – it serves no benefit to anybody, including the local community, because the only sanction available to a court is a £100 fine.

“It would simply mean that the women would get back on the street to raise the money.

“Criminalising sex workers is something Wiltshire Police will not do. But we take a different approach with the punters.

“Our officers regularly work a variety of night time hours to actively seek punters and prosecute as necessary.”

She said police joined the Nelson Trust on the streets of central Swindon: “Our officers keep a discreet watch on the activity at the trust’s outreach van, gathering intelligence and ensuring that the SWOP team is safe. The ultimate aim is to help the women to escape from the dismal situation in which they find themselves.

“It is important for sex workers to see us regularly in the area as our presence encourages them to have the confidence to engage with police and radically improves our intelligence picture.

“We are proud to be safeguarding vulnerable people - and those seeking to help them.”