final episode of Vice Squad last night

Five must have lost interest in this series because the last two episodes have been delayed and the final one (number 6 of 6) was shown at 4 am today. It's not so surprising because it had become quite repetitive. I think that they were hoping that it would attract the same sort of viewers who like to see footage of real car chases and drug busts by police. Despite the dramatic music it fails to thrill.

I went onto the Five site today but unlike usual they did not have any details of this particular episode. I am only interested because I want to see what the attitude of the authorities towards prostitution is now. It is quite disturbing to see what happens when the left-wing fundamentalist feminism of women like Harriet Harman in the Labour government meets the right-wing puritanism of men in the police force.

These two final episodes confirm what we know already. Harriet Harman and people like her would like to ban prostitution. They know from surveys that most British people don't want prostitution to be banned. So they pretend that most women involved with prostitution are forced into it. They pretend that they want to rescue victims. Then they try to stop prostitution by any means necessary. I'm sure they think that the ends justify the means.

I like to think that most people in this country are sensible enough to realise that if you try to ban prostitution you merely force it underground. This makes it more likely that women will be killed or injured. I have no objection to 'unannounced brothel visits'. If brothels were legalised then this would be easier and the few numbers of real victims could be helped.

This episode started with the issue of prostitute advert cards in phone boxes. It was said that these are connected to organised crime and trafficked women. I have no idea if this is true but I doubt it. They showed a man being arrested for putting these cards in phone boxes. He was grabbed by a police man, his arm was held high up behind his back and then he was made to kneel. He was hand-cuffed before being taken away. This seemed totally unnecessary to me. It seems that it was done to inflict fear and pain so as to deter these people. Remember, 'the ends justify the means'.

The next part of the episode was about brothels. It started with footage of men in Oxford Street who were selling an Eastern European woman for a few thousand pounds. I'm sure that this does happen. They went into different brothels/saunas near Stratford in east London.

They were talking about women forced to work in brothels, servicing 30 to 35 men a day. Now I think that in brothels there are never that many customers. Even before the recession I doubt if any woman in a brothel can attract that many customers.

A police officer told a story of a woman who was made pregnant by a client, was forced to have an abortion in the morning and then was forced to continue working within 3 hours. If this really happened then it is disgusting, but I doubt it.

In one place they went to they arrested an oriental woman. It was difficult to tell how old she was. They arrested her for suspicion of controlling prostitution and suspicion of money laundering. Apparently anyone who makes money from something illegal and uses some of that money to continue in their illegal activities is a money launderer. I wonder if our MPs discussed the possibility of the law being used this way before they voted for it. Or did they think it would only be used for gangsters. Now it is used for anyone the police want to stop, and if they want to stop prostitution then 'the ends justify the means'.

They took the woman to the police station and formally charged her with 'conspiracy to control prostitution for gain' and 'controlling prostitution for gain'. They didn't find any trafficked women. They talked a lot about 'immigration issues'.

The next part of this episode was about 'nuisance kerb crawling'. They have done this in several of the previous episodes, always in East London near Stratford (Romford Road/Dyson Road). Not Whitechapel as I had previously thought.

In the previous episode they said that ordinary local mothers with toddlers in pushchairs had been propositioned by kerb crawlers. I don't believe this has happened. I remember that a few years ago there was a report on Tooting Bec Common that said fathers with toddlers in pushchairs had been propositioned by street girls. In all the years I have been going to Tooting Bec Common I have never seen this, and I don't believe it ever happens.

What I think can happen is that in these areas a local woman on her way home could be stopped by police and searched on suspicion that she is a prostitute. I would imagine that would be quite upsetting, to say the least. In the last episode they showed women being stopped by police and searched. The police were quite rude and condescending to the women, treating them like dirt.

That episode said that women were given a caution and if they had several then they were arrested. One woman was arrested and became distressed because she had to get home to her daughter.

At the end of last night's episode they said that because of their 'zero tolerance' policy "the lack of customers could mean that street prostitutes move on, making the area a safer place to live".

So they are saying the zero tolerance policy COULD mean that things change for local residents, but then it might not. If the street prostitutes 'move on' they presumably will move on to somewhere else and nothing will change overall. Then that particular area will become a 'safer place to live'. Really? They had not said that residents are less safe because of kerb crawlers. Safe for whom? Not safer for the prostitutes themselves (some of whom will be local residents), in fact it will be much more dangerous for them. So much for 'rescuing the victim'.

I'm glad this shabby little series has ended. I'm not surprised that Five lost interest in it and hid it away. It started as propaganda for moral crusaders and the American style zero tolerance policies of sly dishonest politicians like Harriet Harman and Jacqui Smith. That has backfired on them. Most viewers can see it for what it is. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth and a lot of people will agree with me.