The Sunday Times this week observed street prostitutes working morning, afternoon and night just m from Curtin House. Motorists were seen picking up prostitutes along Stirling St and at the intersections of Bulwer, Broome and Lincoln streets, on the border of Perth and Highgate.
One Broome Street resident said he recently saw a prostitute performing a sex act on a client on the side of the road at 4pm on a weekday. Four other residents in the area complained of street prostitutes getting into the passenger seat of their unlocked cars and propositioning them for sex.
An elderly resident said a prostitute got in his car and asked: "Are you looking for a lady tonight? A Lincoln St resident, who did not want to be identified, said the presence of prostitutes in the area was "overwhelming and constant". She said there were male and female street prostitutes operating on her street. The Sunday Times saw five female street prostitutes in an hour on Stirling St.
All of them tried to flag down motorists and two were picked up within 20 minutes. The resident said "kerb crawlers" looking for sex were more annoying than the prostitutes and she had been followed about 30 times by men looking for sex. I've lived here 10 years and I see the same girls. Another Lincoln St resident, who also did not want to be named, said the street prostitutes were a blight on what should be a quality inner-city location. Many residents said they were fed up, while others had moved out of the area to escape the scene.
A former Perth unit complex manager who would only be identified by his first name, Marcelle, said he had tried approaching the prostitutes and asking them to move on, but they refused. He then installed a spotlight in the complex. He also put up signs telling prostitutes they were not welcome and would be escorted from the premises, and installed a small camera to monitor them entering the complex.
