· Scottish Prostitutes Education Project ·
promoting health and dignity in prostitution
 about >>
Learn more about SCOT-PEP and our services
how you can help >>
Donate! SCOT-PEP is a small community-based charity in Leith which relies on donations from the public to maintain essential support and services for sex workers. Cheques and postal orders can be sent to the address below, or you can donate by credit card. Every little bit helps!
Volunteer! We depend on volunteers for our outreach services.
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Personal Safety
Safety Handbook · Ugly Mugs · Police Liaison · Remote Reporting
Safety Handbook
Whether you work on the streets, in an establishment, or as an escort, your personal safety is of utmost importance. SCOT-PEP has published a personal safety handbook, Protect Yourself - click here to download it in PDF format. It contains plenty of advice – both general, and specific to different areas of the sex industry. Maybe you’ll pick up some new tips from it, or perhaps it will just reassure you that you’re already taking the right precautions. It also contains advice on what to do if things go wrong, and contact details of useful organisations in Scotland.
Some basic tips from the handbook:
- Always trust your instinct. If you feel uncertain about someone, then there is a good reason for it. It’s not worth ignoring your instinct and later wishing you hadn’t.
- Always tell someone when you are going out to work and when you expect to be back.
- Carry a personal alarm [available from SCOT-PEP] or a whistle, and don’t be afraid to use it. Keep it handy, somewhere you can get it quickly. The bottom of your handbag is not handy!
- If you have one, carry a mobile phone. You can program it to dial a number at the press of one button. Make this the number of the police or one of your friends, so you can get help quickly.
- Appearances can be deceptive. Don’t assume someone is OK just because they look ‘respectable’.
- Tell other workers about potentially difficult or aggressive or violent clients.
- Keep at least one arm free, and always be ready, mentally and physically, to protect yourself.
- Remember NO-ONE has the right to be abusive towards you or to hurt you.
You will need Adobe Reader to be able to view it on your computer, which you can download for free here. Or, if you’re a sex worker in Scotland, we can send it out to you or you can access our services to pick one up.
Ugly Mugs
SCOT-PEP offers support to anyone who has been attacked or felt threatened when working as a prostitute. We encourage everyone to share information that will help others working as sex workers to keep themselves safe from potentially violent clients.
We publish allegations received about violent clients in our Ugly Mugs Lists. Copies of all Ugly Mugs Lists are available in the mobile unit and office, and in the mobile unit there are Ugly Mugs posters, on which recent reports of incidents and attacks are displayed. We share the lists with other projects and the police, but we don’t ask for or record information that will identify any individual or establishment.
- Ugly Mugs on the Beat: This folder provides full descriptions of alleged attackers and their vehicles, if known, and description and date of the incident. There is a mobile phone alert system established for street workers. If you want to be texted when an attack has been reported, so that you can phone the office and get details, then please give your mobile number to a member of staff. Warning text reads UPDATE & date. Remember to tell us if you change your number!
- Ugly Mugs on the Inside: This list is distributed to establishments that want it. It provides full descriptions of alleged attackers, description and date of incident, and location if it happened on a home visit. Staff phone around all establishments we have phone numbers for if we get reports of any particularly dangerous clients.
Reporting an Ugly Mug
You can complete an Ugly Mugs report on your own or with support from our staff or volunteers. We ask for as many details as you can remember about the individual who threatened or attacked you, so that we can pass the description on to others to enable them to recognise and avoid a dangerous client. We will also ask for a brief description and date of the incident.
We can provide support if you want to report the incident to the police, and we can arrange for our police liaison officer to take the report either formally or informally in the mobile unit, or by appointment at our office. Reporting can be done anonymously. We will not try to persuade anyone to report incidents to the police if they don’t want to. We provide information to the police so that they are aware of what has happened, but they do not have to act on it.
Police Liaison
Working the streets doesn't mean you can't go to the police if you need help or information. The Police Liaison Officer is based in Leith to support street sex workers; tackle violence, exploitation and abuse; and gather information about the street prostitution scene.
You'll see Margo, the Police Liaison Officer, out and about. Margo can arrange to meet you at the station or in our office. She can be contacted by phone at Leith police station on 0131 311 5908, or by e-mailing plo.streetliaison at lbp.pnn.police.uk.
This doesn't mean that you won't be charged if you're seen engaging in illegal activity. But if you want to check something out with a police officer, or if you've experienced an attack or other crime, the police recognise that this is more important than your involvement in prostitution, and they are there to support you.
Remote Reporting
Being harassed, threatened, attacked: you don't have to put up with this - and you don't have to let them get away with it. TAKE CONTROL. If you've experienced any crime, let us know. We can pass details on to the police - you don't have to speak to them directly if you don't want to, and you can remain anonymous. We will take down the details of when and where the incident took place, what happened and a description of the attacker(s). The police will stay in touch with us, and we can keep you up to date with what's going on.
The remote reporting form allows three ways to report a crime through us:
NAMED REPORTING: If you want a crime to be investigated, you must give your full name and address, although you can arrange to meet the police in our premises.
NAMED INTELLIGENCE: You can provide information using your full name or a working name. The police may contact us wanting more information from you at a later date - but it's your choice.
ANONYMOUS INTELLIGENCE: If you just want the police to be aware of the crime that took place, you can report it completely anonymously.
If you want the crime to be investigated, you can choose named reporting. If not, intelligence helps the police build up a picture of the extent of crimes.
In exceptional circumstances (such as serious crime, or risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult) the police may have to take formal action even if you were just providing information. If this happens they will take your welfare into account at all times.
Click on the image below for more information on remote reporting.
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contact >>
SCOT-PEP
70 Newhaven Road
Edinburgh EH6 5QG
Tel: 0131 622 7550
Fax: 0131 622 7551
E-mail: voice at scot-pep.org.uk
SCOT-PEP is a company limited by guarantee (Company No. 140511)
and is recognised as a charity by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (Scottish Charity No. SC 020657).
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