Police are worried by a spike in underage prostitution in Auckland's CBD, with girls as young as 12 selling themselves for sex. Senior Constable Mark Riddell of the Auckland central police Youth Action Team said in the last six weeks, a police operation code-named City Door had identified at least 13 girls aged under 16 who were "active prostitutes".
Senior Constable Riddell calls the street a "young red light area". In the last two weeks, Senior Constable Riddell and his team have taken five underage girls off the streets and put them in to the custody of Child, Youth and Family. But Riddell said many of these girls escape CYF and go straight back on the street. These are prioritised for those at risk of suicide, so the girls he dealt with often missed out. Debbie Baker, the manager of Streetreach, a group supporting street sex workers, said she knew of at least 12 girls between 11 and 15 "out there selling themselves for sex" in the central city.
We're seeing more and more young girls out there. After spending the drug money, the girl was forced into prostitution to pay her debt to the gang and she shared the extra earnings from her work with her family. The police really do have their hands tied. Child prostitution is child abuse and it needs to be given the same penalties. It needs to be given the same priority as child abuse.
Auckland Mayor John Banks said he was concerned by what he calls an epidemic of prostitution, family violence and drug and alcohol abuse in greater Auckland.
Senior Constable Riddell believed the increase in underage prostitution in the CBD may be a result of police efforts to clean up "young red light areas" in South Auckland, such as Hunters Corner in Papatoetoe and spots in Manurewa, forcing the girls into the city.
