She was also reluctant to assume that the migrant workers were vulnerable. However, according to research by charities, the police and the Cable, there are strong indications of trafficking and exploitation in her accounts. Kate Garbers, CEO of modern slavery charity Unseen, has accompanied police on visits to premises selling sex in Bristol for several years now an outreach team does. At the time of speaking with the Cable, Avon and Somerset Police have 20 known or suspected brothels on their books for Bristol, 13 of which are commercial premises β but this is the only the tip of the iceberg.
The internet has transformed the way the sex market operates. While punters can now easily hire sex workers online instead of waiting on street corners or sloping into a brothel, these websites also provide a snapshot of women at risk. The Cable used the Police Federation method to analyse websites for signs of exploitation. Data from a popular site β Ukadultzone β revealed that Another indicator was the personal descriptions of a number of sex workers which appeared to be copy-and-pasted and written in similar style and language.
These are not the only ways to find possible evidence of organised criminality. Brothel owners can also be tracked down using publicly available data. Cable research into the ownership of commercial parlours unearthed that some companies own multiple premises.
The two well-established premises trading as massage parlours on Stokes Croft are owned by Cablequest Ltd, which is listed on Companies House along with names of individual directors. In England, Wales and Scotland, the selling of sexual services is legal. However, various associated activities are illegal, including kerb crawling, soliciting in a public place and brothel keeping which can be applied to sex workers themselves if they work alongside one or more sex workers in the same property.
Rather, they seek to gather intelligence on where the most harm is suspected, and target those for criminal investigation. Until , there was a dedicated unit focussed on prostitution within ASP composed of four sergeants, a lead and another part-time officer.
