“I AIN’T done nothing! Where’s the proof?” A woman- who we can call Katrina- screeches as the police officer finally persuades her to stop walking away.

The Echo is on a late-night patrol with officers from Southend’s community policing team around some of the town’s most notorious haunts for prostitutes and kerb-crawlers.

Police have started using tough new powers to deal with the issue and few of the women are pleased about it.

Despite Katrina’s protests and repeated claims that the police must prove she is soliciting, that is simply not the case anymore.

Using new criminal behaviour orders (CBOs), police have been able to designate the area around Ambleside Drive and Southchurch Avenue a no-go area for prostitutes and their clients.

Suspicion is all that’s needed to issue the first stage warning, which is then followed by a community protection notice if they are found in the area again.

Breaking the notice by being found a third time is a criminal offence in itself, meaning the prostitute or the client will be summonsed to court.

Kerb-crawlers are also being targeted, but as they are more difficult to catch a letter is sent to the registered keeper of any suspect vehicles.

Sgt Ian Hughes, patrolling in a marked car, spots his first suspected prostitute at about 9pm- which is early in the evening for these women.

She was walking along Ambleside Drive, but the officer noticed a car was driving slowly behind her as she walked along, before driving off when the police car came in to view.

He stops and speaks to the woman politely and she gives her full name and address.

She then admits that she does work as a prostitute but insists she is not working tonight.

“If that’s the case,” he tells her while handing over the paperwork for the warning, “stage two will never become an issue.”

A few minutes later and she has left on relatively friendly terms.

“We’ve never met that particular woman before, but you tend to end up knowing most of them,” he said.

“York Road was the traditional area for prostitution in Southend, but it seems to have moved across the road now. It’s been an issue for 30 or 40 years.

“We have had Operation Tressle going on now for a number of years, but this is a new approach.

“The force is much more switched on now about issues around hidden harms and modern slavery.

“A lot of them have got the picture and have stopped working here, but we do get one or two regulars.”

We spot two such women a little later on.

Mr Hughes winds down his window and asks them to stop but one just says “yeah, okay mate” and carries on walking.

Katrina, and her friend Naomi, were both stopped during the previous Operation Tressle patrol in September.

Naomi was given a warning and is now handed a notice, while Katrina was previously stopped on two consecutive nights- meaning she is now heading to court.

Despite her shouting and swearing, the operation is not about persecuting the women.

Once Katrina is persuaded to give Sgt Hughes her real name, he is able to pass on a message to her from colleagues in a separate unit and he promises to refer Naomi to a drug treatment programme.

Katrina says the police should be out catching “criminals and rapists” but he tells her that is exactly what officers are trying to protect her from.

The trouble, he says, is that neither have permanent addresses or reliable phone numbers.