The truth behind the takedown of Seattle's "Sex trafficking ring"

[wetnose]

https://reason.com/archives/2016/09/09/the-truth-about-us-sex-trafficking

Be very glad we're living in Vancouver

 

[johnsmit]

I have not finished reading all of the 3 parts..but it is disturbing to think of the lengths of this investigation and the miss leading and faults statments that were reported . Plus the out right abuse of the rights of the individuals charge in how they manipulated the charges and threatened them with escalating sentences just to get a conviction on a lesser charge.
Take about abuse of the accused rights.

What stands out is that we have the same thing here and a number of us were part of a privet meet and greet group through the yrs that did exactly what these men did .

It often been said that these boards were being monitored by LE. Which is probably true..But what else is true is that girls see guys that they know are police officers

Under our new laws I wonder if the QP would try to stretch the law to bring like charges here.
Hopefully the courts here don't tolerate that kind of abuse of right .

 

[wetnose]

First of all, what a colossal waste of resources by having a cop go undercover for years as one of those "hobbyists" when the hobbyists were doing nothing wrong.

Secondly, casting them as human traffickers is just an outright lie. If the police were willing to go to such lengths to crackdown on the evils of prostitution then perhaps they should have focused on those who were actually trafficking women and/or pimping them out against their will. Not just clients and guys who simply booked appointments for the girls.

*gasp* - you mean...ACTUAL detective work? Too hard, man. Easier just to do everything behind a keyboard. The cops get to bask in the limelight, feminists get to show their outrage, media has their field day....everyone's a winner!

Well, except for the guy who took his own life.

 

[Tugela]

What a disgrace! It comes down to the upper brass in those police forces being extremely stubborn and close-minded about prostitution to the point where they're unfairly generalizing the entire industry and distorting facts to the public about what was really going on. Okay, so they don't agree with women being sex workers and men paying them for sex. That's fine, but don't go on a witch hunt and lie about what was actually going on and then punish both the men and women for operating in an environment that makes things safer for everyone involved. It's the false stigma that these police organizations create about the whole industry that pisses me off the most. I wonder how one of those cops would like it if they had some sort of fetish that they sought out a willing partner for online and was instead punished for.

This is just another black eye for police forces all across the United States.

It is an unfortunate thing, but there are some prosecutors and law enforcement officers who have no concept of justice, and will commit terrible injustices themselves basically for a few headlines and to stoke their own ego. In this case someone died as a result of their actions, and if they had a conscience one wonders how they sleep at night. But I suspect it did not phase them since at least some of the prosecutors in that case appear to be sociopaths.

 

[Tugela]

Ya, that part at the end about the suicide was very sad. What an unnecessary death.

Sadly, the prosecutor was probably proud that it happened like that in the end.

 

[Tugela]

I have not finished reading all of the 3 parts..but it is disturbing to think of the lengths of this investigation and the miss leading and faults statments that were reported . Plus the out right abuse of the rights of the individuals charge in how they manipulated the charges and threatened them with escalating sentences just to get a conviction on a lesser charge.
Take about abuse of the accused rights.

What stands out is that we have the same thing here and a number of us were part of a privet meet and greet group through the yrs that did exactly what these men did .

It often been said that these boards were being monitored by LE. Which is probably true..But what else is true is that girls see guys that they know are police officers

Under our new laws I wonder if the QP would try to stretch the law to bring like charges here.
Hopefully the courts here don't tolerate that kind of abuse of right .

The threat of overcharging in order to extort a plea deal is common down in the states. They do it because it keeps their conviction rate high while at the same time avoiding the time involved in having a trial. The only time they actually want a trial is when it will generate publicity for themselves (because they are politicians and that sort of publicity is good for election prospects).

I think it is less likely to happen here because prosecutors and top police officials are hired rather than elected. Not to say that it doesn't happen, because some will just want to do less work and that is an easy route to that end.

 

[johnsmit]

When you look at the investigation they did and who they prosecuted and for what ..
They never even go close to accrual pimping or a trafficking organization. HONESTLY they don't seem to be looking for them .
I can look on any site ..and Craigslist and very easily get a senses of what could be a pimped girl or who is being trafficked ..So why can't they u. Instead they took over 4 yrs to bring trumped up charges against the highest profile Web site and some upper class clients..
Great police work in saving victims of sex trafficking.

 

[sensualsixty]

The threat of overcharging in order to extort a plea deal is common down in the states. They do it because it keeps their conviction rate high while at the same time avoiding the time involved in having a trial. The only time they actually want a trial is when it will generate publicity for themselves (because they are politicians and that sort of publicity is good for election prospects).

I think it is less likely to happen here because prosecutors and top police officials are hired rather than elected. Not to say that it doesn't happen, because some will just want to do less work and that is an easy route to that end.

We need to emphasize that in the U.S. many law enforcement officials are elected, and that certainly perverts justice. Our system in Canada, even if imperfect, is much safer for all of us.

 

[Sonny]

We need to emphasize that in the U.S. many law enforcement officials are elected, and that certainly perverts justice. Our system in Canada, even if imperfect, is much safer for all of us.

Only in the USA. Not only sheriffs are elected but also judges in lower courts. Not just lower courts as 22 states use competitive elections to fill state supreme court seats, at least some of the time.
http://www.justiceatstake.org/issues/state_court_issues/election-vs-appointment/
http://www.justiceatstake.org/media/cms/2014_State_Supreme_Court_races_Shee_72DE1AFF95D38.pdf
http://litigation.findlaw.com/legal-system/how-are-judges-selected.html

 

[Sonny]

Under our new laws I wonder if the QP would try to stretch the law to bring like charges here. Hopefully the courts here don't tolerate that kind of abuse of right .

Even before Harper's law was passed, there were 200+ constitutional legal experts who wrote an open letter saying the proposed law would not withstand a constitutional challenge.
Harper being Harper, the bill was passed anyway. VPD and Mayor Robertson both went on record as saying LE has more pressing problems to chase, and prosecuting the new law was not a priority.
We're all against forced prostitution, human trafficking, underage, and the like. And those activities deserve, and receive, the attention of Canadian police forces.
Pay for play between two freely consenting adults in a safe setting should be completely uninteresting to police and crown attorneys.
The Canadian government is also not interested in a constitutional challenge it will lose.
I, for one, wish Trudeau would get around to decriminalizing prostitution if he views it to be politically risky to propose legalization.