Tuesday, March 13, 2007
About time
A new police team has been set up to target people who traffick women to the UK. The police team, have acknowledged that a more effective approach is needed. It is a start, but I wonder at what point they decided things needed to change.
Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting from the Metropolitan Police said as much as £8,000 could change hands for women who are brought into Britain and sold as prostitutes.
He is responsible for the overall strategy of the new Human Trafficking Team which will co-ordinate the Met’s efforts to stamp out the practice. Det Supt Ponting was heavily involved in last year’s Operation Pentameter, which removed 84 victims from human trafficking in a series of raids across the country.
Quotes from New police team to target sex slave gangs by the Birmingham post.
Sheffield is leading the way, with a human trafficking centre coordinating investigations all over the UK.
Police are appealing to punters.
He added: "Punters are sometimes their only contact with the outside world, so they are an important source of intelligence for us.
"There have been a number of instances where punters have actually brought victims into police stations to help.
"I see the punters as key partners in terms of gathering intelligence. We want people to get the message that many women working in prostitution are there against their will.
"If you go into a brothel you will be offered the services of women across the globe and it is a fair guess that not all those women are there of their own free will.
Quotes from New sex trafficking squad set up by Lifestyle Extra.
Labels: Lifestyle extra, News, Prostitutes, Sheffield star, The Birmingham Post, Trafficking
