RNC in NL wants to build trust with sex workers.

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[B]RNCâ??building better relationships with sex workers: advocate[/B]

The RNC wants to build trust with the sex worker community, says the co-ordinator of an outreach program.

Laura Winters, co-ordinator of the Safe Harbour Outreach Project, met with RNC officers Thursday to try to discuss policing methods in light of new federal legislation that critics say criminalize sex workers.

â??Right now, theyâ??re really more concerned with building good relationships with the community,â? said Winters.

â??I donâ??t foresee them starting to crack down in relation to these law changes. They said to me they canâ??t see themselves doing it, although the directive would have to come from the province and the chief of police, and they havenâ??t heard anything about it yet.â?

Winters said she hopes the RNCâ??s focus will continue to be on building stronger relationships with the community.

What theyâ??ve done is connect us with a couple of really good female officers, so that when sex workers who are connected with the program do have issues that they want to bring to police, we can now bring them directly to a non-judgmental officer who is trained in hearing and knowing how to support people properly through those kinds of things.â?

The RNC has also asked Winters to do training with officers on issues with sex work in Newfoundland and Labrador, which she said is an important step.
â??Itâ??s great to have a number of individual officers we can connect people with, but we also want front-line officers to be treating everybody with respect and dignity.â?

Building trust with the sex-worker community will take time, said Winters, but sheâ??s encouraged by what sheâ??s seen from police recently.

â??This law change is certainly not going to help anything,â? she said. â??Regardless of whether or not individuals are being arrested here in the province, the criminalization of these behaviours really just makes it that these are non-people in the eyes of the rest of the population.

â??Criminalizing it just pushes it further underground.â?

The project is hosting a sit-in to promote nonviolence against sex workers, Dec. 17 from noon to 1 p.m. at the St. Johnâ??s Status of Women Council at 170 Cashin Ave.