// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Met needs to move away from criminalising sex workers, officers say after Levy failings
The Met need to move away from criminalising women involved in street sex work in the wake of the Simon Levy case, officers have told the BBC.
Levy, a convicted sex offender, was left to kill two women and rape another - all of whom were vulnerable and sometimes engaged in street sex work - due to a series of failings, including by the force.
Now the Met is piloting a new two-officer female team in north London to engage with street sex workers, in a bid to improve trust and encourage them to report crimes committed against them.
The Levy case exposed grave failings in policing and also the inherent tension in its approach to street sex workers.
How police let a registered sex offender murder and attack women
Serial sex offender guilty of double murder and rape
Sex work is legal in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland, but related activities like soliciting for clients in public places - known as street sex work - working together, or brothel keeping, pimping and advertising sexual services are all illegal.
Street sex workers are also often targeted by police using anti-social behaviour powers.
Many women who require protection naturally fear arrest and do not trust officers to investigate violence.
The BBC joined a patrol with the two plain-clothed female officers who run the new Met scheme, Operation Amicus.