A photograph used in the Salvation Army's current online campaign about sex trafficking. (salvationarmy.ca)

The Vancouver Police Department is planning an alternative to the Salvation Army's controversial ad campaign about human sex trafficking during the 2010 Winter Games.

Sex-trade workers and civil liberties groups have called the Salvation Army's campaign sensationalist, and it appears police agree that another approach is needed.

The Salvation Army's campaign has been running for a year, drawing attention to what it says will be a spike in human sex trafficking during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Human trafficking often involves criminal organizations bringing women from poorer nations into developed countries under false pretenses and forcing them to become sex trade workers.

Graphic depictions of violence against women in the Salvation Army's advertisements are meant to provoke an emotional reaction, police Insp. John de Haas said. But he wondered what else they achieve.

"When we put an emotional message out, what's the call to action? I don't know what the call to action is on the current campaign. It's not clear," de Haas told CBC News.

Last spring, police and advocacy groups for sex-trade workers released new research that found there was no evidence that human sex trafficking will rise during the Games

Police to launch campaign just before Olympics

"It costs a lot of money to move people around. It's a short-term event, so from a trafficker's perspective, it wouldn't make a lot of sense," de Haas said.

The buying and selling of people for sex does happen in Vancouver, de Haas said, but he added that information campaigns should be factual and should "not cause hysteria."

The police department is now developing its own public awareness campaign, set to launch just before the Games begin in February 2010. New training courses will be available for police officers, hotel workers, taxi drivers and others in hospitality industry, de Haas said.

The Salvation Army came under fire last week for what it called its "weekend of prayer for victims of sex trafficking," which lasted from Friday to Sunday.

No blood-stained dresses

Vancouver advocacy groups said the event was misleading and degraded sex-trade workers. The Salvation Army's national website recommended people conduct prayer walks near strip clubs and massage parlours.

The campaign, dubbed "The Truth Isn't Sexy," also suggested that participants set up mannequins clothed in tattered, blood-stained dresses.

The B.C. division of the Salvation Army was unaware of some of the activities suggested by the national organization, according to spokesman Brian Venables.

"Oh man, where did that come from?" Venables said when told about the blood-stained dresses.

Nobody from the Salvation Army in B.C. would be setting up bloody mannequins, Venables said.