I went on an outcall booking for 1 hour today to a clients home, before i left  i told someone where i was going and what time to expect my calls  to let him know i had arrived and again when i was leaving.  I told him that if i didnt ring as planned he was to ring me to check if i was OK. If he could not get hold of me within 15 minutes then there was a chance that something was wrong.

In the past ive said that in these situations if my friend could not come to me to check that i was OK then he should call the police but recently ive learned that my friend should not call the police just because im not answering my phone as its not classed as a serious or life threatening situation.

What would be your advice in this situation?     

Im sorry but i dont agree with you there Joey.  Ive been fortunate enough not to be in a situation where I or my security have had to call the Police.  However, I have been in a couple of situations where Ive had to go to the Police due to harrassement and threats against my life by unsavory people in connection with the industry we work in.  The Police were great.  Didnt judge me because of the work I do, took the threats serioiusly and acted on them.  Result being that the unsavory people were dealt with, within the Law.

As a British Citizen you are entitled to the protection of the Police, whatever your job is.  My security knows that if they dont hear from me within a certain time frame after a booking and they cant contact me, they call the Police and explain the situation and their concern for my safety.  If that ever happens I would hope that the Police would take it seriously and act on it.

With the Bradford murders in the news at the moment I am sure the the Police would not want to take the risk of a situation occuring where they got a concerned call, didnt act on it, and then found that the woman in question was murdered or assaulted etc.

It's grim but as Penny said, it's important to make a call to the police and tell them the details of the situation if you are aware that somebody might be in a very dangerous situation, even if it obviously is possible to get murdered in 15 minutes or less. Prostitution isn't illegal in this country and if I had a friend who worked in a supermarket or bookshop and I saw some guy carry her off and lock her in a room and generally act like a psycho, I'd call the police then, too! It's important to get them involved even if they say they cannot help - you're not wasting anyone's time if you have a real concern, after all. It is EXACTLY their job to protect people in this country.

Joey - it's the general idea more than the specifics which matter, I think, when it comes to safety procedures. I mean, if someone's going to kill you, they might just wait til you've popped out to visit your mum on a Sunday, so obviously escort safety things like casually mentioning to a client at the beginning of an appointment that you're just going to give your friend a call to let them know you're safe are not going to protect you from everything. But the possibility that it could one day mean the difference between living and not means that it's *extremely* worthwhile.

Also, the more the police are aware that women and men doing sex work are prepared to get them involved should something go terribly wrong, the more help they'll be able to give as it will become more of a priority for them. They might learn along the way that we are not all trafficked and/or drug addicts. And the more clients know that every escort has a safety backup and network of friends and security, perhaps that will stop some future attacks from ever happening as psychopaths and criminals will stop thinking of prostitutes as alone and unprotected.

So it's about more than whether or not you're busy giving a BJ! If the client wants to extend then maybe you do need to just give your safety buddy a quick call or text to let them know, and hopefully one day everyone can ultimately be much more secure and safe. With my safety person, I say that if they haven't heard from me after an hour or so, they need to think about doing something Serious - it's obviously never happened so far and neither of us have ever forgotten or had any ridiculous phone mishaps or whatever, and I (touch wood) hope that the Serious thing will never have to occur!

It's been horribly too late for many women in this industry already but I hope that if nothing else, what happened in Bradford will remind everyone to look out for themselves and each other.

Hi Sarah

the time frame of things is something that has to be comfortable with you.  Personally my security give me 15 mins after booking time for me to call them, and I make sure I do as dont want them to worry when they dont need to.  I then let them know if Im staying longer or if Im on my way out.  If staying longer I give them a call as Im leaving. 

However, if they dont hear from me within that time I want them to phone me, every ten minutes for an hour.  If Im in a hotel then they are to phone the hotel and talk to the manager and tell them the situation, and they will then take over and investigate.

If its a house call (which I very rarely do) then they are to phone me every ten mins for half hour, and then call the Police.

As I said Ive never had to have my security use this procedure, and I hope they never will.  But its good to have a back up plan.  It makes you feel safer, and to be honest the ok guys out there dont mind that you are in contact with your security.  If your safe, they are safe.

And, yes, the police should respond to a 'My friend is working with a stranger. She always has her phone on, and wanted me to call now to check she's ok, but it's not being answered / he's answering and won't let me speak to her / she's used the "I'm in trouble" code word...' style 999-call.

in this situation the police should agree yes, but that depends on me being able to contact my friend and use the 'im in trouble' code word which is unlikely.  If i could not make contact all my friend could say was that i was working with a stranger and im no longer answering calls, the police will ask how long ive been out of contact for and when she replies 1 hour most police officers will consider that not enough time.   (ive been fishing around for information about this and unless the police have nothing to do they will consider a reasonable amount of time to be out of contact before giving it equal priority along side other jobs is apparently 4+ hours, even for working girls). 

Prostitution isn't illegal in this country and if I had a friend who worked in a supermarket or bookshop and I saw some guy carry her off and lock her in a room and generally act like a psycho, I'd call the police then, too! It's important to get them involved even if they say they cannot help - you're not wasting anyone's time if you have a real concern, after all. It is EXACTLY their job to protect people in this country.

if you saw a crime being committed or a friend being carried off then the police would get involved straight away because thats their job, however just because a girl has been out of contact with her safety buddy for an hour or so does not mean shes in trouble so the security buddy can not say for definite that she needs help, therefore the police have no reason to  consider it as urgent.  If they have other jobs to do they will take priority over an escort whose been out of contact for an hour or so, even a shop lifter will be given a higher priority.

police have arrest targets to meet and have to justify how they spend their time, unless youve been out of contact for 4+ hours then its likely that the police will listen to your safety buddys concerns but it will be unlikely that they will take it any further straight away.  If they are by chance going in the direction of your outcall location  then they may swing by, but they wont go out of their way. Once youve been out of contact for 4 hours or more then it will be given a higher priority and if youve been out of contact for 24 hours then the 'missing person' forms will come out and they will need to investigate.

There are of course exceptions and it depends on the police officer who is assigned to talk to your security buddy, it also depends on how much work they have on and whether or not theres been any reported attacks recently in the area.

 I used to have a client who is ex police, i therefore know that theres some really understanding police officers and others that dont appreciate what we do either through a lack of understanding or on personal/moral grounds. In general i would say that we as escorts would be treated no worse than anybody else but at the same time we wont be given a higher priority than any other adult in any other profession.

Hi,

On my website I have a section for new clients & in experienced clients & I openly state on my site my procedure with safety. I also make it clear that the police will be called without hesitation as I am not breaking the the law, so the law will be on my side! I have never been in that situation but if I were, I would do it. In this prof fession ten minutes is ten minutes too long, so call the police!

Dont abuse the system.

Um, Joey, that's a pretty offensive thing to say. I don't think any ladies here on SAAFE are planning on calling the police for fun or because they have some petty revenge thing going on against a client. But thanks for your public service announcement there. I know ladies are just crazy and hormonal and stuff!

The number of women who call the police wrongly against a man is probably similar to or less than the number of women who don't call the police at all despite actually being assaulted because they don't think they will receive any help or justice. Just because men, particularly gay men, are less likely to receive police sympathy (perhaps moreso in certain parts of the US? But nowhere is safe from these sorts of societal ills) doesn't mean that we shall all adhere to the crappy status quo and do our best to keep things as they are, does it? Rather we should all speak out as much as we can.

Keeping in touch with each other (ie the whole safety buddy/sex worker community thing) is probably going to be of more practical benefit than what the police can do when it's only an hour after a friend has gone missing. Like Joey said, you can get to your safety buddy's last known location quicker than the police can - although you don't exactly want to be walking into a bad situation yourself, too. But please can women who are honestly worried not read this thread and think that you're just being a 'silly lady' and not call the police even though you might actually want to!

but recently ive learned that my friend should not call the police just because im not answering my phone as its not classed as a serious or life threatening situation.

Ok...lets get to the core of the question. No one has yet to address this, but Im going to...with a vengence. What happened that made you learn that your friend should not call the police simply because you are not answering the phone?