Street-Based Sex Workers and Police

Submitted by: Sex Workers Outreach Project, Sydney, Australia

Input for: Expert Group Meeting: "Violence Against Women: A statistical overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and methodology and approaches for overcoming them," 11-14 April 2005, Geneva, Switzerland

Topic: Violence against women in the sex industry

In metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), there are a number of street-based sex working areas that SWOP regularly "outreaches". Canterbury Road in Bankstown is one of them. While there has always been a high police presence in this area, in 2003 an extended period of aggressive over-policing began, targeting the women in this legally-defined working area. Police actions had a direct negative impact on the effectiveness of HIV prevention strategies previously employed by the workers in this area. Sex work has been a legal occupation in NSW since 1979. In addition, street-based sex work has been legally permitted in NSW since 1979, with current legislation outlined in the Summary Offence Act (SOA) 1988. Regulation of street-based sex work, using this Act, is still within the police force's jurisdiction.

In 2001 there was also an additional amendment to Section 28F of the SOA generally known as the 'Move On' law or directive. While this law was originally intended to focus on the street level drug trade in certain areas of Sydney, some police on Canterbury Road started using this law to intimidate, threaten and arrest the sex workers in the legal area.

The policing of Canterbury Road

Over the years, the women have endured a number of different policing approaches and attitudes. There have certainly been encouraging reports about police officers who have been very approachable, caring and sympathetic towards the women, but these good experiences are generally outweighed by more negative experiences. Reports have included officers swearing at the women, not responding to reports of rape and assault, verbal threats of arrest and intimidation, as well as 'punishing' a person voicing their rights by locking them up.

The environment on the street by 2003 had escalated to such a level that workers were being arrested nearly every night. SWOP was now receiving negative reports about the police every outreach. Their actions at this time included:

• making the worker stand in front of their high beam for 5 minutes and not allowing her to move or walk away, while they made derogatory comments about her.
• making the workers tip the entire contents of their bags on the ground every night while the officers would look through all their belongings.
• a marked patrol car followed one of the workers and her client back to a house and sat outside with the lights flashing until the client left.
• telling two of the workers that they had ten minutes to get off Canterbury Rd and then following the workers car for about 15 minutes.

The police predominantly arrested the women and not the clients. If clients were arrested they were given on the spot fines or a summons to go to court while the women were taken to the police station and kept there for up to four hours while their charge was being processed. In addition, unreasonably restrictive bail conditions were given, essentially banning the women from the area between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am. These restrictions would often be for either 7 days or until their court case.

The effects of over-policing on the street workers

Sex workers reported that their fear of arrest, detention, harassment and intimidation led them to engage in risky, unsafe behaviour that was not acceptable to them before. Workers started carrying fewer condoms, hiding their safe sex and injecting equipment in surrounding areas and jumping into cars straight away instead of talking to the client first through the window. They weren't able to rely on their gut instincts to assess the client as fear of arrest was so great they reported jumping into any car to get away from the police. In addition, workers were taking the clients away from the usual industrial area and spreading out further into the local residential areas.

All of these actions are disturbing to note and the health and safety implications are immense.

What SWOP did and the outcomes we've achieved

1. Introduced the workers to a pro-bono lawyer

Jane Sanders is a solicitor for Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. Shopfront Youth Legal Centre is a service provided by Freehills, in association with the Mission Australia's Sydney City Mission and the Salvation Army. Sanders has a thorough understanding of the legislation surrounding the sex industry. A referral card was handed out with Sanders' and SWOP's contact numbers on it. As this was no larger than a standard credit card, it was small enough for the workers to carry on their person quite discretely, in case of arrest. At the beginning of April 2003, Sanders came on outreach with SWOP to be personally introduced to the women. She fielded many legal questions and encouraged the women to call if they wanted legal representation.

2. Initiated contact with the police

SWOP approached Bankstown Police to set up a meeting with both the Superintendent and the Crime Commander. A range of issues were discussed, including:

• the current attitudes and actions of their police officers towards the workers,
• demystifying commonly held beliefs about both the workers and the clients,
• reasons why there was a current dispersion of the women into the residential areas,
• complaints the police had received from the public, and
• options for legal working areas that have been successful in both NSW and overseas.

Positive outcomes included:

• An agreement was established as to where the legal working area was, and an acknowledgment from the police that the church was no longer in operation.
• Police also committed themselves to directing their officers to take a more objective approach to the policing of this area, and to remain courteous and polite to the women just like they would with any other citizen.
• Discussion also took place around the idea of identifying specific locations in this industrial area for the workers and their clients to park, in order to do the jobs without causing any disturbances or offence for the surrounding community.

3. SWOP presented to the Bankstown Community Safety Committee meeting

The Police also invited SWOP to present at the Bankstown Community Safety Committee, a meeting the Local Council co-ordinates. We discussed a range of topics concerning the local sex industry and outlined actions that could be taken to improve conditions for both the sex workers and the community in general. While it took a few months, at end of February 2004 a permanent container for used needles had been placed in the area, which was one of the suggestions for the area. Further discussion has continued between SWOP and council to place rubbish bins in the area and the council has continued to be supportive of SWOP initiatives.

Recommendations

The role of police in regards to street-based sex workers cannot be understated. While this has always been a very contentious issue, in order to maximise a good working relationship between sex workers, service providers and the police, a number of things can be implemented:

• Policy directives from the police should optimally come from the top down to assure a consistent and informed approach.
• Regular education sessions, such as Police Sex Worker Liaison Officer training. This can establish good peer education within the police force and identify specific police officers the workers can feel comfortable in contacting to report assaults to.
• Regular meetings between the police and service providers to share information and discuss on-going issues.
• producing a pamphlet stating the laws and the prescribed legal working area, to create a level playing field for all involved.
• A dedicated project officer to be the central communication point for both the police and the workers as well as a dedicated mobile. This gives workers the opportunity to report events as they happen, allowing them to SMS dhe details of licence plates and names of officers, which is an incredibly cheap, if not free way to communicate.

Continuous communication and education of the police has been demonstrated to dramatically change their actions and attitudes towards workers. This has allowed workers to operate once more in an environment where HIV prevention strategies can be employed without fear or persecution. The empowerment of these workers in the last few years has increased peer based education on the street, with many workers now confident to call the police and assert their rights if required. With ongoing contact and collaboration between the police, local council, and service providers, such as SWOP, one can only hope that one day these workers can enjoy the same amount of respect and support that any other worker currently has in the workforce.

Submitted by:

• Sex Workers Outreach Project
  Email: info@swop.org.au
  Web: www.swop.org.au