Metropolitan Police Anti-trafficking Unit to close
The Metropolitan Police Anti-Trafficking Unit - the country's only specialist operational anti-trafficking team - was threatened with closure last November, when government funding was removed. The UKPAC wrote to ministers and many clubs and Regions wrote to their MPs, adding our Soroptimist voice to the many organisations protesting at the decision. In a change of mind, funding was re-established, to be provided jointly by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police; the Unit got a reprieve.
But once again the Anti-Trafficking Unit is threatened with closure; the Metropolitan Police has announced it is proposing to disband its team and spread the work between "other officers".
In its short history the Unit has earned a reputation as an international example of good practice. A Met. Police spokesman said it had been conducting a review about its response to, "all organised immigration crime and trafficking. This has yet to be ratified but propose clubs and vice [other areas within the Met] have enhanced resources and take over trafficking for sexual exploitation investigations."
In his letter to the Met. Aidan McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery International, said that human trafficking was an incredibly complex issue, a crime that ignores borders. Based on conversations with senior Met. officers, it was clear, " the necessary understanding of the legal definitions of trafficking and the proper procedures in supporting victims has not yet spread throughout the force."
When London plays host to the 2012 Olympics it could become even more of a magnet for the traffickers because experience shows that where large numbers of people gather there is an increased demand for sexual services.
Amnesty International UK Director, Kate Allen, said, "We're extremely concerned that if the Met's highly specialised Human Trafficking Team is disbanded, the fight against people trafficking is going to suffer. People trafficking is a difficult crime to detect and combat, and there's a danger that transferring responsibility for combating trafficking to other police teams will mean that hard-earned expertise will be lost within the police. There's also a danger of over-focusing on the fight against trafficking for sexual exploitation, with trafficking into forced labour and domestic servitude being forgotten.
'Instead of closure, what we need to see is the Human Trafficking Team bolstered and fully supported, with NGOs and other agencies helping in this fight.'
And that's just what we all now have to do! Pat Black, Federation Director PR, Marketing and Development, has produced a Press Release (which has been agreed with Federation Programme Director, Hilary Ratcliffe and UKPAC Chairman, Sue Biggs) that clubs and Regions are urged to download and use. The proposed closure of the Unit would be seriously detrimental to the fight against trafficking. Please write to your newspapers, ring radio stations, write to the Met. Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, appealing for the Unit not to be disbanded.