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Prostitution to be audited in Amsterdam

This is a step which Amsterdam has taken as the first municipality in the Netherlands to do this. Under this measure, the city is hiring inspectors who, starting January 1, will audit prostitutes and check whether those operating in the city have the correct permits.

The inspectors, most of whom will come from Amsterdam’s City Surveillance Service (Dienst Stadstoezicht), will follow a training course equipping them to recognize evidence of human trafficking.

They will also look for other signs of illegal activities and on finding any such indication, they will notify the police. Initially each inspector will be accompanied by a police officer. However, in the future the inspectors may be qualified as special investigating officers — officials who, among other things, have the right to arrest people.

The surveying inspectors will focus their audit on the window-prostitution areas of the Red Light District, the Singel district and the Ruysdaelkade. This will be the first ever auditing of the prostitution sector in this manner in Netherlands.