Winnipeg police Chief Jack Ewatski has 90 days to draft a policy on how to deal with human trafficking, following a former model's call for action on Monday.

The order for a policy came after Liz Crawford, who deals with issues surrounding young models, told Winnipeg city council's protection standing committee about her concerns over what she sees as the abuse of vulnerable children by the modelling industry.

The average model is 14 years old, the Winnipeg-based Crawford said, and some of them are vulnerable to abuse by recruiters, agents and photographers. Crawford says she has seen or heard of girls being raped, used as prostitutes or sent to work in bars. 

Ewatski acknowledged that human trafficking as a crime has come to Winnipeg, although not to the same extent as larger centres such as Vancouver and Montreal.

Ewatski said much of the crackdown on human trafficking must come from the federal and provincial governments, but city police will develop a protocol or policy to help officers identify potential cases.

Det. Darren Skomoroh, with the missing persons unit, said Monday that he is now researching the movement and sale of people as commodities.

"I don't want the Winnipeg Police Service [to] fall into a situation where we don't have a policy or procedure established. That way we don't have to fly by the seat of our pants," Skomoroh said Monday.

He said the service will consult with various anti-human trafficking organizations to create a policy so that it can respond and "deal with this."