There are fears that lockdown has increased the risk to sex workers as a Covid rules have sent the sex trade further underground. There are also worries that sex workers will become ‘debt-bonded’ to ‘exploiters’.
So a new role, funded by Hampshire police and the county’s police and crime commissioner will work to keep sex workers safe - with the aim of showing that they are victims of the system, and not perpetrators of crimes. It will start by concentrating on Southampton and will then extend its remit to Portsmouth and Andover.