The author of a government-funded report on sex work in Ireland said she was shocked when she heard accounts of how some gardaí treat sex workers.
Sex workers have a well-founded mistrust and fear of gardaí, said Dr Anca Minescu of the University of Limerick, which carried out the research with funding from the Department of Justice.
She said they did not feel protected by gardaí and were sometimes sexually exploited by individuals on the force. Gardaí, including female gardaí, can be disrespectful, mocking and hostile towards sex workers, which destroys their trust and confidence in police, she said.
Researchers, including “peer researchers” who are sex workers themselves, carried out 50 interviews with 25 sex workers between October 2020 and January last year. The report, I Must Be Some Person: Accounts from Street Sex Workers in Ireland, states the 2017 legislation that criminalised the purchase of sex had “drastically marginalised” an already vulnerable group.
Five of the interviewees said they had been sexually exploited by a garda. Others said they had been approached by gardaí “who were looking to buy sexual services” while there were “widespread incidents” of gardaí harassing and verbally abusing street sex workers.
Interviewees detailed various interactions with gardaí, including one who allegedly asked a sex worker what her rates are. The woman said she did not deal with gardaí, to which he replied: “You will do business with me. I need you to co-operate.”
Gardaí referred to new sex workers as “fresh meat”, made inappropriate jokes about oral sex or asked “what would you do for a tenner?”, the report said.
One woman reported approaching gardaí in a frightened state after a man had tried to pull her into a car. She asked the gardaí to help her get home but they drove off in the opposite direction, she said.
Another interviewee described a sex worker telling gardaí she had been raped and badly assaulted. “If we charge him we’re going to charge you as well,” the gardaí allegedly told the victim.
“All the academics were shocked [by the findings],” but the sex workers “did not even bat an eye” as they were used to such behaviour, Dr Minescu said.
‘Distressing accounts’
She said sex workers “100 per cent” do not feel protected by gardaí. For protection, sex workers will take down the registration of cars they or their colleagues are getting into. Dr Minescu said they felt this was something gardaí should be doing.
“It’s a well-founded mistrust and fear based on their everyday experience of being chased around on the street,” she said.
Dr Minescu said she hoped the report would provide the basis for an improvement in the relationship between gardaí and sex workers.
Garda headquarters has said it will study the findings of the report. A spokesman said all gardaí must act ethically, professionally and appropriately and must treat people with dignity and respect Allegations of illegal or unethical activity would be investigated, he said, and the force has a clear policy on gardaí using their position for sexual gain.
“The policy is clear that any attempt by Garda personnel to abuse their powers for sexual gain will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
“We would ask anyone with any information of such abuse of power by gardaí to report it to An Garda Síochána so it can be investigated.”
The Garda Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc), which investigates complaints against gardaí, noted the “distressing accounts” given by the sex workers and said it takes allegations of sexual exploitation extremely seriously.
Gsoc said it was not able to provide figures on how many gardaí had been investigated for misconduct related to sex workers but that it had dealt with such cases in the past. A spokesman pointed to a 2015 case where a garda was fined for having sex with a sex worker he was investigating.
The Policing Authority said it would consider the report at its next meeting on September 29th. “The authority has been engaging with the Garda Commissioner in relation to instances of inappropriate behaviour by Garda members, including inappropriate sexual behaviour, over a series of meetings both in public and in private,” a spokeswoman said.
