It’s community policing, but not as we know it.
While the traditional beat bobbies of Greater Manchester Police patrol the streets tackling robberies and assaults, Colin Ward and his team work with the victims reluctant to seek help.
They are sex workers, exploited children, domestic slaves. These victims of modern slavery and trafficking live mostly hidden lives - but they are among the most vulnerable in our society.
“I’ve seen someone living in a cubby hole under the stairs. I’ve seen people living in sheds. In an empty house with just a mattress,” DC Ward says.
“Someone living in a container in the back of a chicken factory. I’ve seen damp mattresses in the back of car washes.
“I remember going to Romania and a victim had running water down the inside of the walls of the flat. I’ve seen people with no food who have just been thrown a crusty cob by the offender and that was their food for the day.
“You see that look of pain in their eyes often. But with the adults you can’t just say ‘come with me’. If they say no you’ve got to walk away sometimes.
“They haven’t got a pot to pee in, no clothing, they haven’t got anything at all.”
DC Ward has made a career of dealing with these highly complex, distressing cases. And when he retires from GMP next year, he’s keen to make sure the good work he and his team have done is developed further.
Since his early days in the unit, the understanding of slavery and trafficking in the U.K. has changed vastly. He initially spent most of his time dealing with victims of sexual exploitation.
'We need nosy neighbours'
Where once it was largely British women who would populate brothels and work the street corners of Manchester’s red light districts, a surge in Eastern European sex workers - often Hungarian and Romanian - forced police to change the way they tackle criminality in the trade.
Language and cultural barriers can make it tough to build trust between prostitutes and police. That’s where charities - like Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) - come in. They work with street sex workers and tell officers if they believe someone has been trafficked and forced into the sex trade. Their work is key to taking down criminals who exploit sex workers.
One factor that has made this policing even more complex has been the rise of pop-up brothels. First reported by the M.E.N back in 2017 , they are short-term ventures set up and advertised online and operated from accommodation owned by dodgy landlords and organised crime groups.
Lasting just a matter of weeks, these fleeting set-ups make it particularly difficult for the police to keep track of the vulnerable women working inside.
“Pop-up brothels are the biggest thing. There are very few massage parlours now,” the detective says.
“There will be a normal house on a normal street. Or an Airbnb, or a city centre apartment. That’s harder for us to identify. The massage parlour we can go and visit and make sure people are being treated well. When you don’t know where it is and it’s so transient, that’s harder.
“We started to realise we needed the public more. We needed nosy people wondering what’s going on on their street. The people who moan at neighbourhood teams about brothels, or cars parked up all times of the day and night.
“Most sex workers don’t want to be anywhere near the public like that. They’ll be on industrial units or in houses where they don’t want to cause any trouble. Not everyone in sex work is exploited.”
Part of DC Ward’s job is in making sure sex workers aren’t targeted for exploitation. But the landscape changes all the time.
Eastern European women - mostly Albanian and Hungarian nationals - driven into street prostitution still work around the industrial estates of Back Piccadilly and Great Ancoats Street.
But over the last four years there has been a rise in the number of Chinese sex workers operating in the city. The reasons for this are not fully understood, but DC Ward thinks it may be linked to the makeup of Manchester’s property owners.
“It’s possibly down to, I think, a lot of apartments and a lot of businesses in the city centre of Manchester being owned by Chinese owners,” he says.
“There seems to have been a growth in the last few years in Chinese sex workers.
“Trying to find out if they’re exploited or not is not easy, but there’s definitely a massive growth in the number of Chinese sex workers. Probably the biggest growth of any ethnicity I’ve seen over the last four years.
“It started just before Covid. And when Covid started, they started saying they were Japanese online because they thought people wouldn’t see them if they said they were Chinese.”
As police have developed their understanding of modern slavery, it's become clear that those involved in crime can just as easily be victims themselves.
Elements of prostitution, for example, are still illegal. But DC Ward would rather focus on targeting those who exploit sex workers rather than those who simply work in the trade.
“Something I have pushed for years is that we don’t criminalise sex workers,” he says. “We look at the exploitation and we look at the criminality around them. That’s taken a long time to change in policing and with the public as well.”
Police understanding may have developed, but the detective says the public perception of prostitution is still ‘very old fashioned’, with people not wanting sex businesses in their neighbourhoods.
This can work to officers' advantage - as it means people are more likely to report pop ups and vulnerable people they wouldn't otherwise see. But he feels it's important not to judge sex workers in the same way as the people who prey on them financially.
“I think it’s a ‘not on my doorstep’ type thing,” he says of public attitudes to sex work. “And I get that. Some of the clientele can be a bit dodgy.
“And of course, some of it is illegal still. But I’d rather prioritise looking at possible exploitation and helping vulnerable people.”
He adds: “We do have some punters who report victims. But there are still people out there who know full well, without a doubt, that the person they’re having sex with is a victim.”
There is drug running in private schools
Though GMP still regularly deal with victims of sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation (CCE) is now the most common form of modern slavery facing the force.
Widely known as ‘county lines’ offending, these crimes involve young people being groomed, manipulated, deceived, coerced or controlled to undertake criminal activity - often drug dealing or trafficking but also stashing or moving weapons and money, carjackings, shoplifting, guarding cannabis farms, financial fraud and pickpocketing.
“Children are very vulnerable to county lines. Without a doubt there’s some horrendous violence linked to that. That’s not going away in the short term,” DC Ward says.
“It’s just growing and growing and growing. It’s always existed but there is just more understanding of it now. Although to be honest, that’s the case with a lot of modern slavery.”
And contrary to popular belief, it’s not just disadvantaged children who are at risk.
“There is drug running in private schools, in universities,” he says. “I really think there needs to be education on county lines from the age of around 11.”
'A child I'll never forget'
Though DC Ward brushes off the notion, it’s clear that any police officer working in this field requires great empathy. And it’s that quality that first got him into the specialism.
Just before starting in CID, the detective worked on the Greater Manchester case of a three-year-old girl who was battered to death by a man who was living with her mother in 2005. She suffered 100 different injuries, including a bite on her leg, bruises and what is believed to be a cigarette burn.
Her killer was jailed for ten years after admitting manslaughter and child cruelty, while her mother was sentenced to three years for cruelty by neglect.
DC Ward was with the child when she died in hospital.
“It was horrendous,” he says. “My daughter was a little bit younger than her at the time and I didn’t see her for a while.
“That case affected me quite a bit for a long time afterwards. Seeing that baby die in front of me. It changed my view on life and policing a little bit.
“And then I went straight from that to dealing with these victims. Seeing the father of that child who had been murdered and then seeing the families of these affected me. There is - always in the background - other people at harm as well as the victims themselves. And that’s often forgotten about.”
Despite the difficulties of working with extremely vulnerable victims and their families, DC Ward says it can be very rewarding.
“When you’ve spending time with a victim, interviewing, supporting them, when it comes to criminal trials and you see the change in them, it’s immense. And it does drive you on to carry on doing it.”
While CCE and sexual exploitation remain a big focus for GMP - there are also rarer examples of modern slavery, such as labour exploitation, domestic servitude and cuckooing. These crimes can be linked to anything from loan shark or drug debts to mental health or learning difficulties.
And these crimes can affect anyone. In 2022, Olympian Sir Mo Farah revealed he was brought to the UK illegally as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant.
“It’s heartbreaking when you hear that victims don’t come forward to police because they think we’re just going to deal with them for immigration,” DC Ward says.
“It’s a massive barrier. These are human beings that could be members of your own family.”
He adds: “The criminals always find a little chink in the armour. Everyone is vulnerable in some way. It’s not hard often to find a way.”
'They get it'
DC Ward is set to retire from the force next year and he hopes his contributions have made a real difference.
He regularly delivers training on modern slavery offences, and victim liaison, to his GMP colleagues and officers across the country. And it’s the thing he’s most proud of - especially after his course was adopted by the College of Policing.
“My thinking was - officers were going to these jobs that are so serious with just two hours input. Why are we sending people to such a serious job without the proper training? It’s not fair on the cop and it’s not fair on the victim.”
It was also on his advice that GMP now has an on-call tactical advisor for modern slavery and has hired a ‘vital’ victim navigator.
“We might have just one chance to speak to that victim, so you’ve got to have an officer who knows what they’re doing.”
Alternatively, officers may speak to a victim seven or eight times before they are trusted enough. That’s why DC Ward asks the officers he trains to give victims the best experience they will ever have with a police officer.
“We’ve had jobs as a result of that where victims have eventually come to a front desk and said ‘I’ll speak now’.”
DC Ward says the understanding of modern slavery has developed ‘a hell of a lot’ and GMP is at the forefront. He cites outgoing deputy mayor Bev Hughes for backing the team.
But he also says a strong relationship with the charity sector is key to the work. Groups like MASH and National Ugly Mugs, who help sex workers, and charity City Hearts, which helps victims of trafficking, have been invaluable.
“Funding and the backing we’ve got is second to none,” he says. “Tony Lloyd definitely got it and Bev Hughes gets it.
“Theresa May did. She was big in getting modern slavery at the forefront in 2015 with the Modern Slavery Act.”
That piece of legislation has been vital in jailing some of Greater Manchester criminals, but DC Ward would like to see more of these prosecutions due to ‘the sheer vulnerability of victims and the seriousness of the crimes’.
And because some modern slavery offences carry a life sentence, he stresses that resourcing around these crimes is key.
“Resourcing the investigation, resourcing the victim care - not just in policing - is vital,” he says.
Any concerns about modern slavery and exploitation can be reported, anonymously, to the Modern Slavery helpline here or by calling: 08000 121 700.
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