Police officers are using CCTV and face recognition to crack down on crime and support vulnerable people in a known ‘prostitution hotspot’ in Reading.
Western Elms Avenue has had a reputation for some time for being a place where sex workers operate.
While prostitution is legal, street soliciting, pimping, and running brothels are criminal offences.
The measures Thames Valley Police are taking to tackle the issue were explained at a presentation to Reading councillors.
Felicity Parker, the Thames Valley Police Local Policing Unit Commander for Berkshire West, said: “This is an area where you will know that there has been some sex workers in the area and people going into the area as well.
“We have had an extended hotspot app, so our neighbourhood teams use apps on our phones to make sure we know where we should be going, at what time, to make sure we are doing intelligence-led policing.
“This means that we also have a monthly operation, Op Ruffle, which is enforcement, safeguarding and disruption, to help those who are exploited and those vulnerable individuals.
“Our focus around the policing element is focusing on those offenders. We have targeted them, using civil orders as well, and we’ve also been using our new capabilities of mobile CCTV cameras and our facial recognition capability.
“This means we can identify the people who are coming into the area to potentially offend, we are either tackling that and visiting the local people, or we are sending letters to people out of the area.
“We don’t want people to be coming to this area; it should be a safe place for the people in the community area, and that’s what we’ve been working on.”
According to Police.UK data, two crimes were reported in Western Elms Avenue in January, involving one violent or sexual offence and one vehicle crime.
There were 566 crimes reported in the Abbey and Battle wards in January, with 212 being categorised as violent or sexual offences.
Councillor Wendy Griffith (Labour, Battle), who represents the area, raised the issue of drug dealing.
She said: “Battle ward councillors appreciate the work that is being done in our area, and we do hear about some of the successes at our Safer neighbourhood meetings.
“So thank you for that work, however, residents tell councillors all the time that they are fatigued and frustrated because they report repeatedly, and still see familiar faces dealing and buying drugs every day on the same street corners and in our children’s play parks.
“Residents can tell you what time they will be there, and they feel like nothing is being done.
“Residents report feeling unsafe about continually reporting, and often fear reprisals at their homes.
“What assurances can you give our residents?”
Commander Parker said: “We do take action, our neighbourhood teams will respond, I have more people out in the community who can take action, and then I have the larger groups with more specialist skills who are able to surge our response.
“But we have to prioritise, which is why we’ve prioritised Southcote.”
The report was given to the council’s policy committee on Monday, March 16.
