A NEW call has been made to rid the Fishponds Road area of prostitution.
Easton ward city councillor John Kiely has written to new Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens, urging her to make tackling the problem one of her first priorities in office.
Although Chief Constable Colin Port remains in charge of day-to-day policing following Ms Mountstevens' election on November 15, she has the power to channel resources into certain areas. She has replaced the former 17-member police authority in holding the constabulary to account and managing the force's budget.
The stretch of Fishponds Road in Eastville has become notorious for prostitution and related problems.
Liberal Democrat Mr Kiely said: "Fishponds Road is not in my ward but a lot of residents from my ward use Fishponds Road and this has had a major impact on the area for decades.
"I have tried on many occasions to have the problem tackled head-on. But, sadly, we seem to have got ourselves into a situation locally where the practice is now so prevalent that all the services involved are essentially working as a tolerance zone.
"I appreciate that prostitution will never be eradicated from society. While I have a huge amount of sympathy for the (mainly) women who take part in this trade, the people from my part of the city have suffered long enough with this particular problem. Prostitutes travel from as far away as Swindon to ply their trade on the streets of Bristol."
Mr Kiely calls on Ms Mountstevens to bring "fresh impetus" to dealing with the problem and to "continue supporting the efforts" made to improve Stapleton Road by the police force alongside the Stapleton Road Working Group.
"This has been an excellent example of cross-party working and has yielded successful results for local people," he said.
Avon and Somerset police already have a dedicated vice team in Bristol targeting kerb crawlers.
First-time offenders can be asked to sign acceptable behaviour contracts or attend what is known as the Change Course, which has a high success rate in stopping them.
Prosecutions are used if these methods fail to stop people kerb crawling and persistent offenders can be given anti-social behaviour orders banning them from the area.
A spokeswoman for Ms Mountstevens said: "The police's neighbourhood team and the Bristol vice team are doing a great deal to tackle the problems of prostitution in the Fishponds Road area. One of the Commissioner's priorities is violence against women and girls and she has seen firsthand the good work carried out by the police and the One25 Project in this area.
"The police have adopted a two-fold approach, with enforcement activity against kerb crawlers through the Change programme to stop them re-offending and are working with the One25 Project to jointly support sex workers in exiting the street sex market."
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