Published on Policing Today – 10 July 2013
In the first part of an exclusive interview, Policing Today talks to author and campaigner Ruth Jacobs about the efforts being made by the Service to keep sex workers safe in Merseyside, and why violence against those in prostitution should be viewed as a hate crime. Read the full article on Policing Today here.
Published on Impolite Conversation – 8 July 2013
Not making the hate crime approach the national standard for people in prostitution is a hate crime in itself while women are being beaten, raped and murdered as the state looks the other way… If a particular policing approach was known to be achieving a 67% conviction rate for those who rape people in society in general, and yet it was only being used in one part of the country, there would be public uproar… Read the full article on Impolite Conversation here.
Alex Bryce, Manager of National Ugly Mugs (NUM), gives a brilliant and powerful interview, marking the pioneering scheme’s one year anniversary. He talks about NUM, the successes so far and the plans for the future, he gives his thoughts on the Merseyside hate crime model, and he shares personal experiences of dealing with the police when as a teenager he was sexually and physically assaulted, and more recently when he and his partner were wrongfully arrested and assaulted.
How do you feel about the police?
Well, not long before becoming the manager of the National Ugly Mugs (NUM) Scheme I had a particularly bad experience with the police. My partner and I were wrongfully arrested, assaulted and then maliciously prosecuted. Until the CCTV footage was produced at the very last minute (the day of our trial), which completely confirmed our account of events and proved the police officers’ to be largely fabricated, we were faced with the prospect of it being our word against theirs in court – a particularly daunting position to be in. Thankfully, this has been resolved now but it did have a huge impact on our lives and certainly gave me an insight into how difficult it can be fighting the system. If anything, this made me more determined than ever to support sex workers in accessing the criminal justice system.
It might be…
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Soul Destruction 