Police seek sex-trade worker help in homicide probe
CBC News
Posted: Jan 25, 2012 4:44 PM ET
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2012 4:42 PM ET
A new team of Ottawa police officers investigating human trafficking is planning meetings with sex-trade workers in hopes of learning more about a pattern of unsolved homicides in the city.
Ottawa police in December had warned sex-trade workers about a pattern of violence and asked them to be extra cautious about their safety. Around the same time, police began the human trafficking team.
The two-person team is planning to hold meetings with sex-trade workers in shelters and away from the streets in an effort to bridge relations.
Police also hope to gather information about bad experiences they have had on the job that may provide direction in their investigation.
Prostitute says she wouldn't talk
Angie, a prostitute CBC News spoke with on condition we protect her identity, said she still doesn't trust police and said she'd be unlikely to meet with them.
"Whenever the officers see me they don't treat me with respect," she said. "They're rude, they shove me away. They call me names. I wouldn't tell them anything. And I wouldn't want to be seen talking to them. The other girls may call me a rat."
Police are actively looking at six unsolved murders of prostitutes dating back more than 20 years.
Most recently, the body of Jennifer Stewart, 36, turned up at a Vanier parking lot in August, 2010, and Leeann Lawson, 23, was found in September last year in a Lower Town parking lot.
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