Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info. Charities have called on police to stop criminalising sex workers as figures reveal that more than a dozen cases of persistent street prositution were recorded in Birmingham last year. This refers to when a person persistently offers their services as a prostitute on a street or public place - and it is the sex worker who is criminalised in these instances, not their customers.
Over the course of the year, there were 15 cases of persistent street prostitution recorded by police in Birmingham. While the figure might seem small, it is one of the highest numbers of recorded offences in the country. In most areas in England and Wales, including most of the West Midlands, no cases of street prostitution were recorded as a criminal offence at all. In general, men and women who are charged with soliciting for prostitution for the first time will usually be cautioned and given encouragement to access support services.
If they are charged on multiple occasions, they may receive a fine or an anti-social behaviour order. However, charities warn that criminalising sex workers for street prostitution is not the answer. Recently BirminghamLive joined West Midlands Police and the Handsworth Community Action Group street watch to see how women are being safeguarded and kerb crawlers, prosecuted. There are women who have been raped, robbed, beaten and worse - but desperation pushes them to continue selling their bodies for cash.
We spent six hours with Handsworth Community Action Group and West Midlands Police on their seventh patrol of to see how prostitutes are safeguarded and kerb crawlers tackled.
But despite their trauma, men still eyeball them, negotiate prices through car windows and engage in sex on rotting flytipped sofas and in darkened street alleyways. If this sickening 'demand' for prostitution on Soho Road disappeared, so would the street walkers, police stress. In just six patrols, police caught 21 men with sex workers on the busy road, where kerb crawling has become a "neighbourhood priority".
