Two licensed taxi drivers were among nine individuals arrested for kerb crawling in Shacklewell last Thursday.
Thirty-five officers from Hackney and Islington were involved in the undercover operation on Shacklewell Lane which saw two officers pose as prostitutes to ensnare potential offenders.
Police were called out after numerous residents “raised concerns about prostitutes and anti-social behaviour in the area”, said Sergeant Clare Masterson from the Shacklewell Safer Neighbourhoods Team.
“This operation is part a long term strategy to reduce street vice and make Shacklewell a safer area for residents.”
Eleven arrests were made overall, including one for drink driving and another for immigration offences. Among those arrested for kerb crawling, two men were found to be illegal immigrants.
The cab drivers involved now face losing their licences and their vehicles, and their details have been passed on to Transport for London.
Prostitution in the area has been an ongoing problem and many residents declined to comment due to concerns over personal safety.
The operation was based on the “Nordic model”, a strategy that focuses on the criminalisation of the buying of sex as opposed to its selling by prostitutes. In Sweden where it was developed, the sex trade saw a 70 per cent decrease after the model’s implementation.
Shacklewell is the latest ward in Hackney and Islington to have success with the strategy. An operation in Finsbury Park last March resulted in 11 arrests, six of which were for soliciting a sex worker in public.
Sergeant Richard Berns, who pioneered the strategy in London, said: “Our long term aim is to make street prostitution unviable by taking the money out of the equation. If there is no economic reason for the activity, the prostitutes will stop doing it.”
Three men have been charged, three cautioned and another three have been bailed to attend a diversion course and have been ordered to pay £200 towards a charity which aims at diverting women away from prostitution.
