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Strip Clubs Help Target Pimps

sinclair

Strip Club Nation

MISSISSAUGA - Exotic dancers and other adult club workers in Peel Region will keep their eyes peeled for pimps trying to lure strippers into a life of prostitution.

Peel Regional Police have circulated mugshots of 30 of their most notorious pimps in nine strip clubs.

“We are letting the clubs police themselves,” said Det. David Van Allen, of the force's drugs and vice unit. “We have given them suggestions and ideas as part of a liability reduction strategy.”

Van Allen said officers met with club owners on Jan. 14 to look at ways of keeping their clubs and dancers safe and trouble free.

The owners were issued a 30-page handout containing the names and photographs of pimps. One woman was featured on the list, although police did not reveal her criminal record.

“We are giving them (clubs) a heads up of the known pimps who frequent our

area,” Van Allen said. “We hope the clubs live up to what is expected of them.”

In a related issue, he also alleged sex is taking place in the private VIP rooms at some clubs.

“We gave them (owners) a list of women who propositioned our undercover officers at some clubs,” Van Allen said on Monday. “We told them of certain activities that are taking place on their premises and suggested ways to stop it.”

He said the clubs have until March 1 to deal with problems or officers can return and lay charges.

Tim Lambrinos, of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, said any dancer or staff who recognizes a pimp can contact the association and a report will be filed with police. He said owners can also call police or turf a patron if they're causing trouble.

“The potential is there that someone may try to lure one of our dancers,” he said. “Police are saying known pimps may try to get them into prostitution.”

He said the list of suspects will be posted in an accessible place at all Southern Ontario clubs. Dancers will be trained on what to do when they spot a pimp.

“This will help open line of communication with the police,” Lambrinos said. “We are very happy that police have given us the proper tools to make the clubs safer.”

He is unsure the money-making VIP rooms can be lit any brighter as a way to deter sex acts from taking place.

“You can't have a strip club with bright lights all lit up like a football game,” Lambrinos said. “Our customers want some confidentiality and privacy.”

He said the strippers who were accused of propositioning police were let go.

Some dancers at one Dundas St. club said on Tuesday they weren't too keen on calling the police for fear of being branded “an informant.”

“I am not sure about this,” one stripper added. “I don't want to be the one calling police.”

The association is working to clean up the industry and has launched a campaign to show club owners don't hire dancers who are in Canada illegally or are victims of trafficking rings, as alleged by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who has ordered the RCMP to investigate.

Strip club owners blame the operators of massage parlours for not checking the status of their workers.

Police said a majority of the women being trafficked are Canadians.

(Link has video.)
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoan…