What are Signs of Trafficking?

[Patricia]

Doodlebug, I think the issue of trafficking requires a lot more clients being aware of it. We have also talked about what websites like E-I can do. Police being given resources to tackle trafficking is another obvious issue. Perhaps more than anything what would really help is if, instead of money being given to organisations like Ruhama who only fuel hate and discrimination against this industry, money was given to organisations that would actually provide help to people in this industry, so they had somewhere to go if they needed help. I don't want to take this off topic, but what I am saying is I do fully understand that there is a lot more to combatting trafficking than clients being aware of it and reporting suspected trafficking, but where I am at the moment is thinking of everything E-I can do, and I think one thing E-I can do is further encourage clients to report suspected trafficking. We have already had a prominent banner encouraging clients to do this for many years, but we want to make this point even more prominent, and give sensible guidance on this issue too, hence why I am asking everyone here, what do you think are signs of trafficking?

[mellors]

Patricia, all of these signs are good to know and be aware of, but I think most of them will be unseen by clients. How many of us get the opportunity to know if a girl can leave the apartment etc. Most girls being security conscious leave the room with the money, rightly so, so how do we know how much of the money she gets to keep. The language ones are something of a catch 22 situation, if a girl has little or no English, it doesn't mean she is trafficked but the first words she will learn will be sex related if she is working in the sex industry. This is not intended to cause controversy, just pointing out that we need to come up with signs for during appointments that we can all use.

All excellent points DB, most of those signs highlighted so far are beyond the knowledge of clients or far too blatantantly obvious (like barred windows!) for normal punters to come across. How do we know whose in another room, were not going to go sniffing around and is an escort going to talk to a client or show signs if there is a menacing presence nearby.
Whilst I find this thread laudible , without wanting to dig over old ground, to be started by you Patricia is slightly ambiguous as EI have done nothing since this topic was recently highlighted again to clamp down on this, in fact I believe recent changes have made it easier for pimps to advertise escorts

[doodlebug]

Doodlebug, I think the issue of trafficking requires a lot more clients being aware of it. We have also talked about what websites like E-I can do. Police being given resources to tackle trafficking is another obvious issue. Perhaps more than anything what would really help is if, instead of money being given to organisations like Ruhama who only fuel hate and discrimination against this industry, money was given to organisations that would actually provide help to people in this industry, so they had somewhere to go if they needed help. I don't want to take this off topic, but what I am saying is I do fully understand that there is a lot more to combatting trafficking than clients being aware of it and reporting suspected trafficking, but where I am at the moment is thinking of everything E-I can do, and I think one thing E-I can do is further encourage clients to report suspected trafficking. We have already had a prominent banner encouraging clients to do this for many years, but we want to make this point even more prominent, and give sensible guidance on this issue too, hence why I am asking everyone here, what do you think are signs of trafficking?

I agree totally with you there Patricia, no dispute. I am trying to see if there is anything that clients can do during an appointment that might help. Strangely language skills can be a help as being able to converse in the language of the girl can allow them to relax and open up a little, might even allow them to tell you things if they are trafficked.

The essential problem is that generalisations don't work. A girl who advertises 24 hrs may not be trafficked, a girl who posts a different nationality than her native language may just be safeguarding her identity etc etc, it is a minefield at one level.

[UKHeather]

Patricia, all of these signs are good to know and be aware of, but I think most of them will be unseen by clients. How many of us get the opportunity to know if a girl can leave the apartment etc. Most girls being security conscious leave the room with the money, rightly so, so how do we know how much of the money she gets to keep. The language ones are something of a catch 22 situation, if a girl has little or no English, it doesn't mean she is trafficked but the first words she will learn will be sex related if she is working in the sex industry. This is not intended to cause controversy, just pointing out that we need to come up with signs for during appointments that we can all use.

You are right. Not everything will be seen by clients. Whilst I agree with you in this post, is it not better to simply avoid ambiguous situations. If you visit an escort and you are unsure if she is being exploited, then there is a chance that you are contributing to it. If you don't visit them, you definitely won't be contributing to it.
I say, if in doubt, don't do it.
Report suspicious situations to the police. If the escort is independent and legit she has nothing whatsoever to fear from them.

[Patricia]

Wasn't there some guy offering info on the signs of possible escort profiles that are risky?
He had some way of tracking them.
I seem to remember reading about him a while back.

Different topic, but yes I think I know what you mean. As a business, we have to be responsible, we can't endorse self-appointed judges of the escort industry. We can only encourage anyone who suspects trafficking to report it. It's a long debate and I'm not getting into it here, but we believe in people reporting suspected trafficking to the proper authoritites.

[Patricia]

Whilst I find this thread laudible , without wanting to dig over old ground, to be started by you Patricia is slightly ambiguous as EI have done nothing since this topic was recently highlighted again to clamp down on this, in fact I believe recent changes have made it easier for pimps to advertise escorts

We are working hard behind the scenes. I dispute any suggestion we have made anything easier for pimps. Lots more threads to come from E-I over the coming days/weeks announcing changes etc.

[Patricia]

A girl who advertises 24 hrs may not be trafficked...

Again off the core topic here, but I agree with this. I note to check the 24 hour box when signing up is easier that selecting times. I think a lot of ladies who check the 24 hour box may simply be a little lazy in regard to online form filling in!

[UKHeather]

Different topic, but yes I think I know what you mean. As a business, we have to be responsible, we can't endorse self-appointed judges of the escort industry. We can only encourage anyone who suspects trafficking to report it. It's a long debate and I'm not getting into it here, but we believe in people reporting suspected trafficking to the proper authoritites.

I believe that if more suspicious situations are reported then the police will have to find a way to deal with it and just maybe, in time, more officers will be assigned to vice. I can understand why clients may be afraid to report, and therefore turn a blind eye and leg it, but I am confident that reporting may be done anonymously. The public are the eyes and ears.

[ChiefHandker]

I agree totally with you there Patricia, no dispute. I am trying to see if there is anything that clients can do during an appointment that might help. Strangely language skills can be a help as being able to converse in the language of the girl can allow them to relax and open up a little, might even allow them to tell you things if they are trafficked.

The essential problem is that generalisations don't work. A girl who advertises 24 hrs may not be trafficked, a girl who posts a different nationality than her native language may just be safeguarding her identity etc etc, it is a minefield at one level.

Very true. A couple of other signs, off the top of my head would be..
The escort won't have ever seen her advert and won't be familiar with the services she is expected to provide (from favourites list)
The escort ad will use fake photos or obscure her images so that the girl cannot be identified by friends/family/police.
Again though, those signs obviously aren't exclusive to trafficked escorts.

To reply to you quickly:

It is certainly not our intention to make life any easier for pimps. We plan to make a number of changes to E-I over the coming weeks with a view to improving the quality of E-I, I think we will actually be publishing the list of these changes tomorrow for everyone to see, and you will see then that making life easier for pimps is certainly not our agenda.

Not to labor this point, but have these changes been published yet?

[UKHeather]

if a lady has little to no english

then how does she get a mobile, apartment an add in english, answer the phone in english and give you direction
no intrest in apointment dosnt want to be there, unwilling, knock to the door when times up
thats something aall clients can see

Without wishing to discriminate against foreign ladies who are independent Kelly, I have to agree with you. A trafficked woman in the sex industry is very likely to be from a non-English speaking country with a poor economy.