Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for having me.
I'm honoured to be here today to speak with you from a law enforcement perspective on this important topic. Today I want to share what we see on a daily basis in this city and across this province through a police lens. I want to share efforts we've made and the direction we're taking to combat sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
The Winnipeg Police Service missing persons unit and counter exploitation unit are a combined unit aimed at identifying and protecting those at risk of exploitation and enforcing laws associated to human trafficking. We support the national strategy to combat human trafficking and enhance prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.
The unit receives reports of exploitation on a daily basis. Reports of exploitation range from controlling basic needs, such as food and shelter, to providing alcohol and drugs for sex acts. This is not a crime that is specific to gender, area of the city or socio-economic background. It has no barriers, and in this digital age, offenders have access to a wide range of potential victims.
Our unit is a support to frontline members and investigates reports obtained from uniformed members, tips that come from Cybertip, and calls from family members, our social agencies and child welfare partners within the community, just to name a few.
We also proactively look for potential victims, as what we know is that victims of human trafficking and exploitation do not always come forward; they need us to find them.
The counter exploitation unit also conducts proactive enforcement aimed at the exploiters or buyers of sex. These types of investigations result in numerous arrests on a regular basis. Members of the unit meet with survivors in street clothes; there are no uniforms. They explain who we are and what resources we can offer when they are ready. This is done on street corners, in hotels and in apartments across our city. Often, we simply provide a pair of mitts on a cold evening, or a care package.
Once a survivor comes forward, our unit works with them through the court process to maintain that relationship and familiarity with a consistent investigator. What we have learned is that we need to continue to build relationships with child welfare agencies, community groups and other law enforcement agencies. The more collaboration and information we share for the well-being of these youth and adults, the more success we will have. We continue to work on strong and sustainable relationships with our community partners.
Education is truly the key to success, through schools and social media platforms and as a community of adults caring for those most vulnerable in our city.
As a service, the counter exploitation unit offers training to our members and other agencies specific to human trafficking. This is a yearly course put on to teach our frontline members about best practices, investigative techniques and compassion when dealing with survivors. This year, we brought in a survivor to speak about her experience with law enforcement as a way to help frontline members understand and recognize trauma and how to appropriately handle it.
We've also recently trained members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service on the indicators of human trafficking. Fire and paramedics are often first on scene. Now they have additional knowledge of potential signs of trafficking.
The counter exploitation unit has also paired with the hospitality industry in the city and provided training to various hotels, again, on the indicators of human trafficking. We're also in the process of collaborating with the RCMP and other agencies on a joint enforcement project.
I also want to share some of the challenges we face. One of the biggest is the lack of a long-term addictions treatment facility in our province. The number of reported missing and exploited youth I see is extremely high. Many of these youth are vulnerable to exploitation due to their addictions. We need to be able to treat these addictions in order to stop the cycle of vulnerability leading to exploitation. We have to address the addiction crisis among youth and recognize its direct ties to exploitation if we're truly going to prevent human trafficking.
Thank you.