CCTV back in bid to curb Hessle Road prostitution
NEW MEASURES TO TACKLE RESURGENCE
NEW signs are set to be installed in a red-light area of Hessle Road plagued by street prostitution.
They will be aimed at deterring sex workers and their clients from gathering near residents’ homes.
Residents have previously complained of sex workers and their clients having sex in side streets and scattering used condoms and needles in gardens and pockets of public space.
The situation got so bad at one point that prostitutes were still plying their trade as parents took their children to school in the morning while members of the public were also being randomly propositioned.
The long-standing problem in the area appeared to get worse last year after a CCTV camera in Constable Street was removed.
Now a camera has been reinstated in the street with new warning signs due to be installed in the next couple of weeks.
Councillor Daren Hale, who represents the area, said: “While I’m very pleased we have worked with the police and secured one of our Citysafe cameras back on Constable Street where there was a resurgence of the prostitution issue, it has to be said that is where the camera was before.
“It was obviously the removal of that camera which led to the issue going back down there so I know my fellow ward councillors will be very keen to fund it and keep the camera there.
“I also think it’s fair to say that has led to a displacement. In a sense, the prostitutes have moved to outside the Criterion pub because it is out of the line of sight of that camera.
“Clearly what they have done is moved ten metres outside the scope of that camera.”
Speaking at a council, Riverside area committee, Inspector Caroline Andrews, of Humberside Police, said: “I know there have been some concerns about sex workers and the use of the Constable Street area.
“We have put a lot of work into that and there is now CCTV in the area that is monitored.
“We have extra patrols in the area and we have recently done a designing out crime survey which has meant improvements have been made such as clearing rubbish, cutting back vegetation and working with our other partner agencies to deal with this matter.”
During lockdown last year the police and Hull City Council lost a tool to tackle prostitution in Hessle Road.
Section 222 injunctions were introduced by the council five years ago to tackle problems involving sex workers in Hessle Road.
The order banned prostitution in the area and both the council and police believe the injunctions worked to help tackle the issue.
However, the injuctions were discharged after a loophole in the law was confirmed following the outcome of a case in London.