Police share insight on sex crimes

This from Holly Desimone,
Personally to many it would seem the law enforcement of many countries have had little success it this growing problem and keeping the predators of the internet. Our law makers do not seem to be addressing the issue quickly.

This week in Toronto: Crime Fighting Experts are tackling the growing number of sex slaves, child sex tourism and child prostitution. Let's hope the laws will help protect our children and the experts can get the GOVERNMENT'S FROM AROUND THE WORLD'S to finally address this issue seriously!

TAKE ACTION AND DO SOMETHING TO HELP THE GLOBAL EXPERTS

Police share insight on sex crimes Global experts to meet in Toronto

Child prostitution among the topics
Nov. 20, 2006. 06:12 AM
MICHELE HENRY STAFF REPORTER

Hundreds of police and experts from around the world will be in Toronto this week to plot new ways to attack the rising global traffic in sex slaves, child sex tourism and child prostitution.

Meeting just steps away from the bustling crowds of Christmas shoppers in the Eaton Centre, more than 350 officers and civilians will share ideas and technical tips in the fight against the merchants of human misery.

"It's an opportunity to get together once a year to see how to do our job better," said Toronto police Acting Staff Insp. Mike Hamel of the conference, which is sponsored by the Toronto police sex crimes unit and starts today in the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre hotel.

"We talk about new laws, new investigation techniques."

The International Conference on Sex Crimes Investigations began more than a decade ago as a small local conference, but in the 13 years since the first one it's ballooned into an event that attracts investigators from as far away as Africa as well as civilians from non-governmental organizations that support the victims of sex crimes.

While shoppers in the Eaton Centre are looking for toys and warm snuggly clothes for the children in their lives, the international experts will be focused on seminars dealing with human trafficking, highlighting how women and children are purchased on foreign shores, then exported to North America to be sold as sex slaves.

Among the seminars presented will be "The Shocking Reality of Child Sex Tourism," and "Child Prostitutes: Seeing Beyond the Myth."

Rani Srivastava, deputy director of nursing and practice at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, one of the experts sharing information this week, plans to give conference participants practical advice on how to approach sex crime victims from cultures other than their own.

"If people are afraid we have to gain their trust," Srivastava said in an interview, explaining that officers need to be aware that being the victim of a sex crime can be the cause of intense shame in some cultures.

Srivastava, the author of The Healthcare Professional's Guide to Clinical Cultural Competence, said an awareness of such cultural sensitivities is often the first step to overcoming barriers.

"It changes the dynamic of how we can work together," she said. "It's important."

She added that the biggest impediment can be erroneous biases retained from outdated training.

During the seminars, Srivastava plans to discuss practical ways to overcome such long-held beliefs.

"I hope people will think about this and talk about it more," she said about how she hopes her seminar will inspire officers.

"I hope they'll become aware this is an important issue and be empowered."

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