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Wendy
 Mar 12, 07 - 12:13 PM |
New Unit in Toronto Helps Sex Workers - toronto sun
During the final months of 2006, the Toronto Police sex-crime squad added a special victims' unit as a pilot project and, in an informal survey of the sex-trade strolls in four downtown police divisions, it identified and catalogued 572 street prostitutes -- the ones who congregate at the bottom rung of the sex-trade ladder, and who will sell whatever they can sell to feed their addictions, primarily their need for crack cocaine. In the sex-for-sale business, they are the flotsam. They get used. They get abused, and they get tossed away. And few are given a second thought. They are, after all, nothing but crack *****s in the public's mind's eye. They are not human beings. And this, of course, is not the case. TREATED INHUMANELY In mid-January of this year, what was once a pilot project became a full-time unit, a special victims' unit aimed at convincing the street prostitutes and even the homeless -- the young, and the not-so-young -- that the police are not their enemy and that, if they are abused or threatened, or treated inhumanely, there is now a tipline to call, even if that call is placed anonymously. Det. Wendy Leaver has been a member of the sex-crime unit for almost 10 years and now, with Det. George Schuurman, Det. Jackie O'Keefe, and Det. Ed Dizon, there is now a four-person squad dedicated to breaking down the barrier of cultural mistrust between the cops and the sex-trade workers whose downmarket office is usually a street corner. "I was giving a presentation at john school recently," Leaver said. "And I asked the men who were there because they had been arrested, what they thought of street prostitutes. "And it was always the same. They're sluts. They're this, or they're that." "But never were they given a human dimension." A few years ago, long before anyone had ever heard of a British Columbia pig farmer named Robert Pickton, the Toronto Police sex-crime unit initiated the "Bad Date" telephone line, and began handing out cards to street workers with information on how to phone in -- even anonymously -- information which could stop an abusive client from abusing again. It was a slow go. Today, however, the newly-formed special victims unit has the public support of many of the agencies where such unfortunates turn when they run out of room to run -- like Streetlight, Street Health, the Yonge Street Mission, the Evergreen Youth Centre, Sanctuary Ministries, and the Sex Professionals of Canada organization that even maintains its own web site highlighting bad-client scenarios, complete with identifications of the offender when identifications appear to be solid. With the endorsement of the aforementioned groups for a police initiative comes something that is vital. And that something is street cred. 'BUILD BRIDGES' "Our goal is to build bridges," said Det. Jackie O'Keefe. "We are not here to be adversarial or judgmental. "We are here to make the streets safer -- and that means safer for everyone." Example of an all-too-typical scenario: "Pro (professional sex worker) got into white 4-door car. Bad Date drove pro to secluded location and, while she was doing oral, the bad date said he liked rough sex. He choked pro till she blacked out briefly and smashed her head against door a few times. Pulled a pole out of back seat and said he was going to use it ... on her since she was a 'f------ *****.' Pro kicked windows out of car and managed to escape. Another sex worker claims to have been assaulted by the same man. "Description: Male, white, approximately 60 years old, name may be Serge. Grey hair, says he runs a limo service. "Vehicle description: White 4-door car newer model (could be a Grand Prix), flag behind driver's seat next to clothes hook (could be a Polish flag), had a beer keg on the seat and offered pro a drink, licence plate numbers include 453." Location: Parkdale around Queen and Jameson Sts." According to Det. Wendy Leaver, anonymous callers play a vital role in the building of an intelligence file on suspected abusers. "With anonymous callers, we may not have a victim, at least one that has a name. And we may not have a suspect, at least one that has a name. But you build up information as you go," she said. "And, sooner or later, the pieces will fit." PHOTOS OF WORKERS Over time, Leaver and her newly-minted special victims unit would dearly like to see the day when their unit is so trusted that their growing intelligence book contains photographs of the street workers -- all voluntarily given. "I never want to see a (Robert) Pickton in this city," she said. "What I want to see is the day that we get a call and a sex-trade workers says to us, 'I haven't seen so-and-so in three weeks,' and we actually know who that so-and-so is. "It's all about knowing who's out there," Leaver added. "And actually caring." (The Toronto Police Sex Crimes Tipline |
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Wendy
Mar 12th, 2007 - 12:15 PM |
Re: New Unit in Toronto Helps Sex Workers - toronto sun
Toronto Police Tipline is 416-808-0000 |
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a
May 15th, 2007 - 1:23 PM |
a
http://80sporn.thumblogger.com/home/list/2007/13/ |
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pray for bob
Aug 25th, 2008 - 8:21 PM |
Re: New Unit in Toronto Helps Sex Workers - toronto sun
thanks |
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