By Debbie Kerr

Dundee residents yesterday spoke out against kerb-crawlers regularly trawling the streets in Stobswell looking for prostitutes.

Prostitutes who walk the streets night after night and the clients who frequently pick them up have become a major issue for locals.

The depth of concern was revealed at a community meeting at the Boomerang Volunteer Project on Pitkerro Road.

Organised by the Vice Versa project, it gave locals a chance to talk to project workers and members of the Tayside Police Community Task Force about the problem of prostitution and how it affects them.

One resident said prostitutes have used her street to tout for trade for years.

She said, “It has been a problem for a long time. I used to have one woman sitting on the wall outside my house almost every day looking for business and people slowing down.

“You see men driving past all the time looking for girls.”

She added, “I have one neighbour who is now too frightened to answer her buzzer at night because she knows a man in her building uses prostitutes.”

Another local said it went further than just getting girls off the streets.

She said, “One of the concerns I have is the obvious demand that is out there.

“I don’t think the women who do this, do it by choice. Most do it because they are desperate.

“I think the problem is the people who are buying the prostitutes, not the prostitutes themselves.”

Sergeant Carol Ann Brown of the task force assured residents that prostitution was being targeted.

She said drug rehabilitation and partner agency support were helping many of the women forced to work on the streets.

She said, “The task force are out there to help the community, make people living here feel safer and also help these girls if we can.

“A lot of the girls involved are not doing this because they want to, it is often a desperate step.

“Whether it is through drugs or someone forcing them to go out on the street—often it can be a cry for help.”

She added, “It is really important that we work in a partnership with both the council and the community.

“The people living here are the people who really know what goes on and where the problem areas are, so if we work together we can make a difference.”

Sgt Brown said her team is focusing on both prostitutes and their clients and issued a stark warning that they would be working hard to disrupt such activity.

She said, “We are doing everything we can to make it as uncomfortable as possible for the men going out looking for these women and for the women to be here themselves.

“We are not going to solve the problem overnight but we are working one step at a time.”

She added, “The task force are not reactive, we are proactive. We are patrolling the areas we know are a problem and where we know the vehicles are coming in and looking.

“Hopefully our constant presence will make these people feel very uncomfortable about coming to Stobswell.”

Vice Versa, backed by the Scottish Government and Dundee Community Safety Partnership, was set up this year to tackle on-street prostitution.

Co-ordinator Allana Ellis said community involvement was vital to help clean up the city’s streets.

She said, “We are committed to designing a service that responds to the needs of the women involved.

“But the project also recognises the importance of working with the community to ensure that people feel safe and their quality of life is improved.”

Meetings on the problem will be held at the Boomerang Volunteer Project on July 30, August 20, September 10, October 1 and October 22.