Police Investigating Local Sex Slavery

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Windsor Police have identified two suspected human traffickers in the area after a national sex slavery investigation.

Last week, police services across Canada participated in a two-day blitz focusing on the growing concern that young women are being forced to participate in the sex trade.

The initiative, called Operation Northern Spotlight, involved 26 police services and targeted hotels and motels on major thoroughfares in 32 cities and towns across the country.

Police say 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.

According to the Criminal Code, this activity is known as as “Human Trafficking,” but police say the public may better understand this issue as “sex slavery.”

Police say many of the women appear to be making their own decisions to participate for financial gain, but investigators found several teenagers and young women were being forced to perform through threats of violence, physical intimidation, drug dependence and other forms of coercion. Part or all of the proceeds from the sexual encounters were kept by their adult male controller or pimp.

In Windsor, police interviewed 5 females, the youngest being 16 years of age. The initiative identified 2 suspected human traffickers in the area.

Anyone with information that might assist investigators is asked to contact the Windsor Police Morality Unit at 519-255-6700 ext. 4343 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS).