Guest N***he**Ont**y Report post Posted October 25, 2015 Greater Sudbury Police officers recently met with sex-trade workers to ensure no cases of human trafficking were occurring in the city as part of a strategy titled Operation Northern Spotlight. During the latest phase of this initiative, members of the Break Enter and Robbery unit and the Criminal Investigations Division conducted prearranged meetings with people suspected of participating in the sex trade, potentially against their will. During the three-day period, from Oct. 7-9, all of the female sex-trade workers approached in Sudbury indicated "they were partaking in the sex trade of their own free will, and correspondingly no charges have been laid," police said in a release. The women were offered information by the investigating officers and alerted to community-based support agencies. Operation Northern Spotlight is a coordinated nationwide human trafficking investigation. Forty police services conducted investigations over a seven-day period in early October, resulting in 47 people being charged and a total of 135 offences. Police were also able to ensure the safety of 20 people who had been working in the sex trade as a minor or against their will. Most of those rescued were under the age of 19. OPP Sgt. Peter Leon said police interviewed many young women who were brought to Canada under false pretenses. "They were literally held captive to perform in the sex trade," Leon said Thursday afternoon after a press conference detailing the investigation was held earlier the day in Vaughan. "False promises were made to these individuals, who, unfortunately, didn't realize what they were getting into until they got here," he said. "There was a young lady from a European county who thought she was coming here to do daycare. Right off the bat, she was forced into stripping. Her life was literally controlled by these individuals." Leon said he's unsure how long the young woman, who he believes is in her 20s, had been held against her will in the Canadian sex trade. "She was rescued and now she has become an advocate for other people," he said. Charges laid range from trafficking in persons, receiving financial/material benefit, living on the avails, extortion, uttering threats, possession, making and distributing child pornography and procuring a person younger than 18 to provide sexual services. Other Ontario police services involved in the Northern Spotlight operation include Belleville, Brantford, Cornwall, Durham, Guelph, Halton, Hamilton, Kingston, LaSalle, London, Niagara, Orangeville, Ottawa, Peel, Peterborough, Rama First Nation, Stratford, Strathroy-Caradoc, Waterloo, Windsor, Woodstock and York. OPP Deputy Commissioner Scott Tod reiterated as Phase 4 of human-trafficking investigations continue, his officers remain committed to the plight of those caught up in the sex trade. "The OPP is committed to fighting human trafficking through intelligence gathering, working co-operatively with our law-enforcement and community partners to support victims and ongoing enforcement efforts," he said. "Human-trafficking investigations are complex and labour-intensive and we must continue to fight for the rights of those victims who are often from vulnerable sectors of our population in Ontario." I the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ran Operation Cross Country IX that also resulted in the recovery of numerous children and arrests of several suspects. "Human trafficking is a threat which targets the vulnerable around the world, and one of the most vulnerable -- our children" said assistant director Joseph Campbell, of the FBI's criminal investigation division. "Our partnerships enabled the FBI and Canadian law-enforcement agencies to share best practices and intelligence. As a result of this collaboration and sharing, both U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement agencies rescued children and arrested those involved in the trafficking of children." http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/10/23/officers-talk-to-sudbury-sex-trade-workers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ice4fun 78396 Report post Posted October 27, 2015 Police in St. John's recently did a similar outreach project booking appointments with ladies who arrive to be met by police officers who ask lots of questions and offer assistance... no big issues except wasted time for the lady. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterat 20911 Report post Posted October 27, 2015 I believe the police should be paying up for the wasted time. Otherwise they've broken a valid verbal contract. Maybe, worse still, they've also communicated to solicit a sex act!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ice4fun 78396 Report post Posted October 27, 2015 I believe the police should be paying up for the wasted time. Otherwise they've broken a valid verbal contract. Maybe, worse still, they've also communicated to solicit a sex act!! Its not illegal to pay a lady to spend time with you And I doubt that LE actually discussed any services.... but I agree if they booked a ladies time which is legalthey should pay... I doubt they did. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fortunateone 156618 Report post Posted October 28, 2015 Its not illegal to pay a lady to spend time with you And I doubt that LE actually discussed any services.... but I agree if they booked a ladies time which is legalthey should pay... I doubt they did. The say they did prearrangements, which is not the case, they did fake bookings. in some cities, they fake booked outcalls. as we all know, many sps pay drivers to take them to an outcall, or a taxi. This means they were most definitely inconvenienced, out of pocket expenses, and lost income for other real bookings. They mention a young woman who was brought here on false info, which is true, but the case is many years ago. Back when there was so many problems with the stripper visa which i think has been resolved by eliminating that as a work visa. I think it is extremely misleading to use this operation to mention that story and imply it was during this month that they found and rescued this woman. Especially since we know after she left the situation which brought her into the country, after a period of time, she voluntarily went back into sex work before becoming a rescue advocate expert. These operations, especially in the US, are promoted as finding underage victims, but as you can see from the stats, that is not happening. If they are looking for them, and finding so few, one wonders what is their criteria in the first place. and of course, in the US, the numbers of 'rescued' is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of adult consensual sex workers who are arrested, since it is illegal there. and among those sps, are some who are charged with trafficking because they happen to be in the company of another younger sp, or drove someone to an appointment, or even, ridiculously, trafficking themselves. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phaedrus 209521 Report post Posted October 29, 2015 The say they did prearrangements, which is not the case, they did fake bookings. Ah, yes. The good old "lying by telling the truth" trick. So they make a fake booking, and... yes, that's a meeting, and it was prearranged! They just neglect to mention that they were utterly deceitful about the purpose of it... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bella Rose 380 Report post Posted November 9, 2015 I believe the police should be paying up for the wasted time. Otherwise they've broken a valid verbal contract. Maybe, worse still, they've also communicated to solicit a sex act!! I was about to say exactly what you said..i couldn't have said it any better, they have no logic...;) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
