MORE than 400 kerb crawlers have been identified in a police crackdown in Boscombe.

Operation Planet aims to educate offenders about the consequences of their actions and to help vulnerable women involved in street prostitution.

Many of the men identified have been placed on the “change course” as part of the operation, which has seen a dramatic increase in the number of offenders identified.

Inspector Chris Weeks told a recent meeting of Pokesdown Community Forum that only 20-30 offenders were identified annually a few years ago and that the operation is proving to be a success.

He told the meeting: “Dorset Police look at the vulnerable female – the prostitute on the street corner – as the victim. They are at the most desperate state they could be in and they need support and care to leave prostitution.”

He added: “If the prostitute is the victim, the kerb crawler is the offender, and they are given the help they need too to see the effect what they do has on the community, the women involved and the offender themselves.”

Insp Weeks, who has worked in Boscombe for three-and-a-half years, said his aim is to get women who are forced into street prostitution to safety.

There are a number of organisations in place to help the prostitutes including the Dorset Working Women’s Project and the Bournemouth Alcohol and Drug Service User Forum.

Most of the kerb-crawlers identified attend an awareness course which boasts a reoffending rate of just one per cent.

“We want to come down hard on this and show that there’s no tolerance for it here” added Insp Weeks.