PSNI demands new kerb-crawler law

The British government was under pressure today to introduce new laws in Northern Ireland to help curb prostitution.

Police are hamstrung with old laws – some date back 150 years – and they want ministers to introduce legislation to help them combat both the prostitutes and the kerb-crawlers seeking to engage them.

The British government is due to announce a new crackdown on prostitution in England and Wales today, which is expected to get tough on the men who seek to buy sex. It is now under pressure to extend the legislation to cover Northern Ireland.

The situation has been brought to a head by urban renewal, which has seen new apartment blocks built in central Belfast in an area – formally commercial - where prostitutes have long plied their trade.

Residents, both men and women, complain they are having to run the gauntlet of both kerb-crawlers and prostitutes mistaking them for potential customers or clients.

A public meeting in Belfast City Hall attended by residents, police and politicians last night heard calls for action to be taken.

The meeting was told there was a lucrative trade for prostitutes, and women from across Europe, Africa and Britain, as well as from both sides of the border, were working the streets of Belfast.

There are around 50 brothels in south Belfast and police admitted that as soon as one is shut down, another opens up.

Detective Inspector Jeff Smyth said: “What emerged and what has been highlighted at the meeting is that there seems to be a gap in legislation.”

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), for instance, has no power to arrest and prosecute kerb-crawlers.

“Currently we deal with legislation which is 150 years old. Our colleagues in police services elsewhere in the UK have a more updated legislation specifically designed against kerb-crawlers,” said the inspector.

Ulster Unionist councillor Esmond Birnie said: “The law should be changed to bring it into line with England to make kerb-crawling an offence.

SDLP councillor Pat McCarthy added: “People are entitled to come out of their front door without having to put up with prostitution and kerb-crawlers.”