Residents in Lordship Park and Queen Elizabeth’s Walk are unhappy that, despite attempts to tackle prostitution, kerb crawling remains an issue and police are said to be “not interested”.
Sex work in the area has been a problem for years, but residents had hoped that following a recent police clampdown such activity would decrease.
Temporary cameras were installed to record the number plates of persistent offenders and the police have conducted a number of operations targeting clients, who can be sent on awareness courses as a first step.
But this action has been largely unsuccessful and residents continue to suffer from the associated antisocial behaviour that comes with street-based sex work.
Christopher Steele, who lives on Lordship Park and regularly finds used condoms and syringes in his garden, said: “There are times when you feel uncomfortable as the people are often drunk or drugged.
“The police have occasional purges and I send emails, but they are never acknowledged. You just give up.”
Natalie Bouloux, who lives on the same street, said: “It’s not the most pleasant thing. I don’t like walking back sometimes.
“It seems to happen at least once a week, but I’ve never seen anyone arrested. I don’t really know what you can do.”
At a meeting about the problem, Pc Ali Dag agreed and said: “I don’t think were ever going to get rid of it. But it has decreased a lot to single figures in a night now.”
He added: “It’s just a massive game, you move them on and they come back. We send the women to court, they get a fine and then they come back.”
A resident from Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, who wished to remain anonymous, felt the police were not doing enough to tackle the issue.
“We phone up and nobody’s the slightest bit interested,” he said. “It’s not the girls that are the issue it’s all the other stuff that goes with it. We feel that the issue has been pushed under the carpet.”
Since 20 October police have had the power to issue dispersal notices to individuals in a specific area but have not yet used this to deal with kerb crawlers.
