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Challenges for policy and practice in policing and victim care
In this section we examine the main implications for policy and practice, which are drawn from analysis of interview data.
Focus of Pentameter 2
While the European Convention definition encompasses child trafficking and human trafficking for labour exploitation as well as human trafficking for sexual exploitation, and it was initially understood that Pentameter 2 would tackle all of these forms of exploitation, the overwhelming focus of intelligence gathering and operational work in the UK appeared to remain focussed on sexual exploitation in the main. Data from this research indicated that this was true of Scotland. For example, the investigative strategy for Strathclyde comprised the following wording in relation to human trafficking: "Through partnership working, use all investigative means necessary to identify those victims trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, particularly children, and to bring to justice those persons complicit in these crimes".
Understanding of human trafficking
It was felt among some police personnel and other agencies that there was still a lack of a formal and shared understanding of the definition of human trafficking victimisation used among practitioners. In part, this related to the difficulties inherent in identifying human trafficking 'on scene'. While there were many cases where organised prostitution had clearly been taking place, it was often difficult to evidence human trafficking. More explicit guidance on the characteristics of trafficking may be helpful.
Priority of human trafficking
Human trafficking is a high priority for the Scottish police service and there is a centrally driven will to include human trafficking as core police business, which has very high level support. In practice, however, data showed that action on human trafficking was still considered to be an addition to everyday police work. Forces set their own intelligence and operational priorities within individual control strategies, and these strategies relate to their respective local public concerns.
Actionable intelligence
It is clear that human trafficking is a difficult area in which to gather and present intelligence. Actionable intelligence requires reliability and it is measured by a formal grading system on the Scottish Intelligence Database. Sheriffs are briefed on the system so that they can make informed decisions when considering whether or not to grant warrants. From interview responses it appears there was often a lack of actionable intelligence to support suspicions of human trafficking. Although police can make routine visits to saunas, massage parlours and private residences which may be functioning as brothels, they cannot force entry without a warrant and there needs to be justification for this. Usually the level of intelligence required for a warrant is at the level gleaned by surveillance, first hand observation or reliable third party sources. These require intense and costly resourcing.
Identification and retention of victims
Normally, the greatest source of evidence lies with the witnesses and victims recovered during an operation. In many cases where human trafficking was strongly suspected 'victims' did not identify as such. Some police officers interviewed reported that they could not impose a duty of care on victims as to do so would violate their human rights. Where victims did self-identify, they often left wherever they were staying during, or immediately after, initial debriefing. Mistrust of the police was thought to be one reason for this. Another may have been fear of deportation, regardless of their immigration status. If they were debt bonded they may have feared what would happen to them or their families if they did not pay off the rest of their debt and/or if they agreed to act as witnesses of a crime. There is some evidence from the Poppy Project and other specialised victim care services operating in the England & Wales, that providing a holistic services to victims of trafficking, as opposed to simply accommodation, may serve to address some of these issues. However, another emerging factor appeared to be that some individuals simply did not want to go back to the life they left behind before they came to the UK and they may remain in situations of exploitation unless viable economic alternatives were presented to them.
Unknown communities
In Scotland the migrant population has traditionally been very small but it has grown substantially in recent years. For example, there are now in excess of 77 nationalities residing in Glasgow, and even in much smaller cities and towns, substantial proportions of the population are made up of new and often transient ethnic minority communities. With language barriers and mistrust of the authorities, especially police, some communities (especially Chinese) are effectively 'closed' to regular policing and other mainstream service provision. Where there is willingness to report serious crime to the police there are often problems with interpretation, both in terms of a lack of appropriate interpreters and the reliability of those available.
Multi-agency working
While UK and Scottish policies set out a victim centred approach to human trafficking, the competing priorities of various statutory and non-statutory agencies can be problematic. For example, where a non- EU citizen self identifies as a victim, the police priority is to gain reliable evidence, the victim service priority is to ensure that the victim's needs are met and that they are not further victimised, and the UKBA priority is to establish the immigration status of the person. Although there is a good working relationship between these 3 agencies, in practice, it is the police who carry out operations and the extent and nature of involvement of other agencies is usually determined by their initial judgement. An organisation like TARA may be best placed to properly identify victims of human trafficking and gain their trust, but some law enforcement officials feared that involving non-statutory agencies could jeopardise the security of operations.
Prosecutions
In England and Wales there have been a number of successful prosecutions for human trafficking resulting in some of the largest sentences in Europe. Whilst there have been prosecutions for brothel keeping and other offences in suspected human trafficking cases in Scotland, there have been none for human trafficking to date. One case did reach the courts in late 2007 but collapsed due to lack of evidence. Data gathered during the course of this research showed that this is likely to result from a combination of factors including: an unclear intelligence picture; low levels of awareness among the public; absence of witnesses; difficulties with translation during debrief of witnesses; further training needs among police and prosecution professionals; and some difficulties in obtaining warrants, including a perceived tendency for Sheriffs to favour the familiar language of brothel keeping instead of newer legislation relating to human trafficking. All of these factors contribute to a lack of evidence which might support a successful prosecution for human trafficking. Most of these factors are also likely to be relevant in England and Wales, but the comparatively lower scale of identified cases in Scotland and the lack of precedence may account, in part, for the differences in prosecutions.
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