ENFIELD: Police unit axe ‘will worsen vice’

The Met Police said on Monday that its Human Trafficking team will disband in April 2009 after the Home Office withdrew £2.3million in funding.

The unit, dedicated to dealing with people trafficking in London, was set up in March last year. The Home Office said the funding was only meant to start it up.

But Southgate MP David Burrowes criticised the move. He said: “It is estimated that as many as 4,000 people are being held against their will in London either as slave labour or as prostitutes.

“The statistics suggest this problem is growing and by cutting the funding for this unit the Home Office is effectively washing its hands of these people.

“I urge the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to review this decision. It is an irresponsible decision led by the Government’s financial plight rather than human plight.”

A report by the Poppy project found signs of human trafficking in every part of Enfield.

The charity, which provides support and accommodation for women who have been trafficked into prostitution, says crimes often involves children, sex exploitation, ritual abuse and forced labour. The study, published this March, found there were 19 sexual offences in the borough related to trafficking from 2003 to 2007.

During that time Enfield Council referred 13 women to the POPPY project.

The report said the borough’s counter-trafficking response was impeded by a lack of clear policy and an attitude that it was “someone else’s problem”.

Regarding child trafficking, it said: “One contact was sufficiently frank to admit feeling relieved if a child on their casebook went missing or if responsibility can be passed to a different unit.”

The Home Office said the funding was only provided to help establish the unit and it was up to the police to carry on supporting it. A Met Police spokesman said it was reviewing how existing anti-trafficking resources, including other trafficking units and police teams, could best be deployed.