'Eyes and ears on the street' How sex workers are keeping kids safe

SEX workers operating on Bristol's streets are helping to protect some of the city’s most at-risk children.

- Kirstie McCRUM

These people are working along-side police and a charity to help to bring dangerous child sex-offenders to justice and identify children who may be on the streets after dark and at risk of exploitation.

A new BBC documentary, The Sex Detectives: Keeping Kids Safe, gives a rare and revealing insight into this hidden world thanks to work by BBC West Investigations.

Rachel Stonehouse, from the BBC West Investigations team, is the first journalist to have been given such extensive access to the Night Light project - a partnership between Barnardo's, Avon and Somerset Police, Bristol City Council, and local sex workers.

At a time when there is such concern about violence against women and girls, this behind-the-scenes report explores the action one city is trying to take.

Filmed on night operations over a number of months, it takes an unflinching look at the issue and hears first-hand from sex workers about their experiences on the streets, the young people the scheme has helped and follows the professionals on shift as they try to disrupt the men buying sex.

The project was established in Bristol in 2020 during the Covid lockdowns, following concerns that young people were at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation.

The sex workers involved provide information on suspicious individuals and report possible child exploitation and abuse to authorities.

Jo Ritchie, a social worker employed by Barnardo's, came up with the idea of talking to the women working on the streets about what they see and hear when others are not around.

She told the BBC: "We are totally dependent on [sex workers]. We've identified children at risk, who are out on the streets, who we weren't aware of, because of them.