SUDBURY- Crime – On the 20th and 21st of January 2014, the Greater Sudbury Police Service participated in a nation-wide blitz titled “Operation Northern Spotlight”, which focused on the growing criminal trend of exploiting young females and forcing them into sex slavery.
Sudbury Police have charged several males with exploitation of women and are stating that there are “Sex slaves in Sudbury”.
Sudbury Police state, “Operations which seek to reach out to trafficked persons give sexually exploited persons the opportunity to report instances of exploitation and allow police to build relationships and send a clear message to would be traffickers that this type of activity will not be tolerated in our community.”
Operation Northern Spotlight involved 26 police services and was centered around hotels and motels on major thoroughfares in 30 cities and towns across the country. Over 330 young women, some as young as 15 years of age, were interviewed. Police found some were being forced to perform sexual acts, multiple times a day, for paying male customers.
The Criminal Code section refers to this activity as “Human Trafficking,” the public may better understand this issue as “sex slavery.” Although many of the women appear to be making their own decisions to participate for financial gain, investigators found several teenagers and young women were being forced to perform through threats of violence, physical intimidation, drug dependency and other forms of coercion. Part or all of the proceeds from the sexual encounters were kept by their adult male controller or pimp. Human Trafficking or “sex-slavery” is a multi-jurisdictional problem for police agencies because often the controllers or pimps who are forcing these young girls and women into prostitution and the sex trade are traveling from town to town within the province and country.
Sudbury Police Services will continue to monitor any incidents of “forced participation” in hopes of assisting any woman involved in the sex trade business against her will.
