When the sex worker arrived at the hotel room, a plainclothes officer and a social worker questioned the woman about whether she was being trafficked or sexually exploited. Officers spoke with eight women, the youngest of whom was Rachel Phillips, executive director of PEERS Victoria Resources Society, said sting operations which draw women to hotel rooms under false pretenses further stigmatize and marginalize sex work, which is often falsely equated with human trafficking.
Police commonly use it when trying to catch sexual predators or people sharing child-abuse images. This is quite futile and actually harmful. Victoria police Const. The department said most of the women remained in the room and spoke with officers. The officers provided information about support services and bags containing toiletries, clothes and gift cards for basic items, police said. As a result, despite strong relationships with outreach organizations who support those who do sex work, VicPD investigators often learn about human trafficking through related investigations into fraud or drug trafficking.
Officers have confirmed numerous instances where known human traffickers have operated in Victoria, and officers have spoken with numerous victims. Chivarella became aware of the operation after seeing sex workers post about it on social media and warning others about the tactic. Chivarella said the fact that a sex worker is young or travelling to different cities is not evidence of human trafficking.
Some of the women were visiting from Montreal and Toronto, police said. In her six years with PEERS and working with hundreds of people in the sex industry, Phillips said, she has talked to five women who described being trafficked. In , the RCMP defended a national undercover operation which used similar tactics to interview sex workers in hotel rooms about human trafficking. The RCMP said at the time that, with the help of 57 police agencies, officers conducted interviews with sex-trade workers in seven provinces which resulted in 14 arrests.
In all, six sex workers were removed from exploitative situations, including two under the age of 18, the RCMP said. In January, four people from Vancouver Island were arrested in Saskatchewan on suspicion of human trafficking. Join our Newsletter. Katie Derosa Jul 3, AM. Share by Email. Phillips said she hopes to start a dialogue with the police about the undercover tactics.
