MEN who trawl the streets looking to pay for sex will be targeted during a new crackdown on prostitution this month.

Throughout August, officer from the Loxford Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) will patrol Ilford Lane and the surrounding area to deter men from visiting the area to buy sex.

Officers say their approach will be overt and transparent, and will use CCTV to record men who they suspect are in the area for this reason.

The hope is that by depriving the prostitutes and their pimps of a steady supply of customers that they can flush them out from the area and reduce the level of anti social behaviour associated with the activity.

Residents are being asked to tip police off about suspicious behaviour in the area which they think could be linked to prostitution, and police say they will gather information about men they suspect of being customers of prostitutes and visit them at home in order to deter them.