Complaints of police abuse of prostitutes in Hong Kong have doubled in the last year, a report said yesterday.
Figures collected by sex workers’ rights group Zi Teng claim there were 88 complaints in the first three months of this year, compared to 47 in the same period last year.
The South China Morning Post said the complaints include 15 cases of police officers making an arrest after receiving sexual services from prostitutes, and 31 cases involve officers receiving massages. Zi Teng founder Yim Yue-lin was quoted as saying that the police did not identify themselves as undercover officers until after the sexual services had been performed.
“The reasonable way for the police to do their job is stop receiving the service once it has clearly begun,” she said.
Under Hong Kong law, prostitution is not illegal, but soliciting and running a brothel is. Sex workers say that forces many women to operate alone and open to exploitation.
A police spokesman said undercover officers follow strict rules under the direction of senior officers and that limited sexual services were accepted when necessary for the investigation.
Sex workers and some legislators have repeatedly criticised police for allowing officers to receive sexual services from prostitutes.
Some officers had allegedly visited the same prostitute up to eight times before identifying themselves and making an arrest.
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