Policing the men buying sex on Bristol’s streets

WARNING: This article contains details of a sexual nature. If you have been affected by anything in this story, help can be found at the BBC Action line.

The commercial sex industry is highly complex, with debate on how to police the issue. In Bristol, dedicated teams are engaging with street sex workers whilst disrupting kerb crawlers. Their aim is to combat night-time exploitation and harm, focusing on criminalising the men, rather than the women.

Now BBC West Investigations has been given exclusive access to witness the impact of their work.

It’s nine o’clock on a bitterly cold Monday evening and as temperatures dip below freezing, we are heading out with the Op Boss and Night Light police teams.

The streets are quieter than usual, but travelling in an unmarked police car we come across a number of women working on the streets.

We’re with Op Boss officers Siggi Gilleburg and Jordan Daruvalla, who are constantly keeping an eye out for potential “exchanges”.

Shortly after leaving, we’re alerted to a man seen heading into the bushes with a known sex worker.

We’re in a residential part of Bristol, with a children’s play area right next to it. Not necessarily the sort of place you’d expect sex work to be happening.

The man is pretty shocked to see us, but quickly accepts he was in the wrong.

“Caught red handed I guess,” he says.

Loitering with a street sex worker is considered anti-social behaviour and he is issued with a community protection warning that will stay in place for 12 months.

This restricts the areas where he can go and he could face criminal action if he continues to go into them.

It is legal in the UK for a person to buy sexual services or be a sex worker. But associated activities such as kerb crawling, having sex in public and a sex worker loitering in a street or public place are illegal.

While some police forces still target women for loitering, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) now recommends not criminalising the women – who are often vulnerable – and instead targeting the men.

This is the idea behind Op Boss, which has been running for 15 years in Bristol and was an early adopter of the NPCC’s Nordic Model approach to policing sex work.

“We go out about 10 police officers in plain clothes under a directed surveillance authority,” explains Rose Brown, an Avon and Somerset Police sex work liaison officer.

“We have someone who’s monitoring what’s going on in the red-light area from CCTV and we primarily take the Nordic approach – so we look to safeguard the women and disrupt the men who are coming into the area to purchase sex.”

In an 18-month period, 145 offences have been dealt with by the Op Boss team.

More than 1,000 men have been sent on a course to prevent reoffending and to learn about the women’s vulnerabilities since Op Boss started.

Across an eight-month period we spent seven shifts with the Op Boss and Night Light teams and encountered men of all ages from all walks of life.

On another night with the team, we were alerted to a man on a bike spotted talking to a sex worker before heading towards some trees on the edge of a park.

In keeping with the project, the officers spoke to the woman who was then free to go – and they instead targeted the man.

It was clear he was pretty shaken by what happened and told me: “I wonder what I’d done wrong.”

He was adamant he didn’t realise the woman was a sex worker – although the woman told police that a sexual service had been agreed, before he changed his mind.

He was issued with a community protection warning for anti-social behaviour and said he wouldn’t be returning to the area any time soon.

And it’s not just men on their own out on the prowl.

On one of the shifts the team was alerted to a group of three men, seen talking to a sex worker who then got into their car.

By the time we arrived, the car was steaming up.

It turned out to be three university students – one had agreed to pay for sex, encouraged by his two friends.

Siggi explained it was not uncommon to come across students buying sex.

This tactic of disrupting and criminalising the men though is not how all police forces work.

“Avon and Somerset have been sort of the national lead in relation to taking a safeguarding approach to the women,” Rose said.

“And our relationship has really come on leaps and bounds with the women.”

Before every patrol, the Op Boss and Night Light teams have a briefing at the station. They also pack warm clothes, hot drinks and food.

These, as well as other supplies like condoms, rape alarms and other safety devices, will be given out to the sex workers the team talk to while on patrol.

The Night Light team is a collaboration between the police, children’s charity Barnardo’s and the city council.

Working alongside Op Boss, Night Light offers support and seeks information from the street workers about any young people at risk.

Travelling around the city with Night Light’s Rose and Jo Ritchie, a Barnardo’s social worker, the trust between the team and the women is clear to see.

Not long into a shift we encounter a woman on a street corner.

She tells Rose and Jo about a man who has been talking about raping children in Thailand and they ask for his description.

It is these insights and intelligence that are helping the project’s success.

Jo and Rose offer another woman a drink and ask her if she has seen any children on the street.

“If I’ve seen young ones, I will tell you because you know… When I was like about 13, 14, I was out here. I shouldn’t have been. I was underage and it shouldn’t have happened,” she says.

The woman’s experience is shared by many.

“Time and time again, we hear them say, ‘I wish this had been running when I was a kid, because perhaps I wouldn’t be out here now’,” Jo tells us.

I ask Jo and Rose how they’ve worked on building trust over time, particularly when the relationship between street sex workers and the police has been difficult in the past.

“I think probably it’s because it’s consistent faces going out and they trust us,” Rose explains.

“This project’s really helped to break down those barriers.”

Dan Vajzovic, the NPCC lead for the policing of sex work, says Avon and Somerset’s work is “exemplary”.

“We’re trying to develop an approach that recognises the vulnerability of many of the women who sell sex on the streets… and target serious criminals as well as improving the safety of sex workers.

“The success in Bristol speaks for itself and it would be great to see this replicated across all forces in England and Wales.”

Representatives from a number of other police forces have been out with the teams in Bristol in the hope of setting up similar approaches to Op Boss and Night Light.

And at a time when there’s been such a spotlight on violence against women and girls and how to tackle it, it couldn’t be more timely.