THE new sex industry police unit – created by the Baillieu government one year ago in a bid to crack down on crime in the sex industry – is hamstrung by lack of resources and has not charged any illegal brothel operators since its inception.
The unit has managed to shut down one illegal parlour but is not directly policing them – instead focusing its enforcement and monitoring activities on licensed brothels.
Frustrated licensees of legal brothels have resorted to vigilante action, sending spies into illegal parlours. They have given police statutory declarations swearing they received sexual services at five illegal brothels around Melbourne – all of them close to police or politicians’ offices, including Premier Ted Baillieu’s office in Camberwell.
Police are also understood to have been provided last year with a further list of 62 premises suspected of providing illegal sex – all of which are believed to be still operating.
Here is more, and for the pointer I thank David H.
Since when is the use of self-interested information provided to the police an example of ‘privatization of law enforcement’?
Further, maybe there isn’t really a barrier to entry, at least if the article is to be trusted -
‘He said at the time the changes heralded an increased commitment and would ”remove barriers to Victoria Police taking action against illegal brothel operators and properly balance the responsibilities of law enforcement agencies and licensing authorities”.
Consumer Affairs kept a role in regulating licensed brothels.
The changes followed a series of reports on lax enforcement against criminal elements in Melbourne’s legal and illegal brothels, allegations of trafficking in legal brothels and the case of a Yarra council worker who admitted accepting bribes from illegal parlours across the city.
Australian Adult Entertainment Industry spokesman William Albon said a five-person police unit was one-third the size that police had originally planned and was clearly insufficient to tackle what he estimated were more than 250 illegal brothels in Victoria. There are about 100 licensed brothels.’
Australian Adult Entertainment Industry spokesman William Albon said a five-person police unit was one-third the size that police had originally planned and was clearly insufficient to tackle what he estimated were more than 250 illegal brothels in Victoria. There are about 100 licensed brothels.’
IOW, size matters.
I don’t think you are getting the joke.
And you might think that even at 1/3rd of their fantasy baseline they still might find ONE legit (aka non-legit) infraction.
Oh, I beg your pardon. They did shut down ONE illegal parlor. My bad.
sounds like a licensing problem, 71% of the existing brothels are unlicensed, isn’t the incentive to collect licensing fee’s and taxes, and the subsequent resources to properly regulate the industry enough motivation for the Police or local government to act. Talk about stepping on the supply curve and then complaining about the consequences.
Reminds me of the old joke:
A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, “This is where the light is.”
Ha! A policeman helping. That’s hilarious!
Reminds me of gun control in the states – harass those who follow the law, while ignoring those who don’t. It appears you have more freedom – and income – operating illegally than legally.
As Adam Carrola likes to point out – where he gets off the freeway, to his left is a group of illegals selling fruit and flowers in an unlicensed, illegal manner, and leaving mounds of trash when they’re through, and to his right is a Highway Patrol officer giving some legal, licensed driver a chickensh*t ticket for not properly stopping before proceeding. The reason for this disparity is simple, policing one activity creates income – traffic ticket – while the other creates an expense – detaining, transporting, booking, etc.
Cheers
If only we had never taken the red pill, Chuck. Life would be so much simpler.
Licensed brothels and workers should demand higher taxes and fees conditioned on the government actually shutting down the illegal operations. The method of enforcing the conditions of the higher taxes and fees is refusing to pay and becoming illegal operations which will not be shutdown because the police are not allocated the required resources.
I’d like to live one day as a statist. It must be like a good hallucinogen.
Isn’t this a problem for advocates of full legalization of narcotics? No one foresees unregulated markets in crack or H or selling to minors so drug legalization will mean harassment and taxation of legal shops while doing little to curb illegal trade.
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