Hard line taken on prostitution

Drug-dependent sex workers will be offered help to quit their addictions

Police have begun cracking down on prostitution in a red light area of a Wiltshire town.

Officers have stepped up surveillance in Broad Green, Swindon, targeting kerb crawlers and prostitutes.

Women "trapped" in the profession by drug dependency will also be offered help to quit their addiction.

Vice liaison officer Sophia Macintyre said it was not a softly, softly approach, but services were available to those wanting advice.

"We want to make sex workers aware of the services and the agencies that can help them," she said.

"It is very much their decision, their choice, we can only help them make the right decisions."

Ch Supt Paul Howlett said it would be one of their toughest campaigns.

"People who are acting as prostitutes, we will arrest them," he said.

"Where we encounter kerb crawlers, they will also be arrested.

"If you choose to go to that part of town and kerb crawl in your vehicle, we will be able to identify your vehicle and if we are not able to stop you there and then, we will be writing to your home address."