Enforce town codes against sex trafficking
Sex-trafficking survivors Jasmine Krokowski, left, and Tatyana Taylor. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Enforce town codes against sex trafficking
The subject of sex trafficking, unfortunately, is not discussed enough. When I was the Town of North Hempstead’s public safety commissioner the past eight years, I directed the town’s Code Enforcement Division to quantify all the “massage” businesses in North Hempstead and enforced the town code [“Still an uphill fight to stop sex trafficking,” News, Jan. 28].
These “massage” businesses bring little value to our communities. Many promote prostitution, hire undocumented workers, fail to pay all their taxes and contribute to violence against women.
Based on our inspections, we issued a copious number of court appearance tickets for converting commercial space into habitable use by the workers, operating without a New York State license and for interior alterations. Once we completed these inspections, we notified law enforcement to take appropriate action. In 2023, my request generated more than a dozen arrests.
I needed higher-level help against the “massage” business principals, who may live out of state or were involved with organized crime. So I contacted a senior manager for the Blue Campaign at the Department of Homeland Security, which works against human trafficking.
Homeland Security dedicated staff members to assist us, and it was actively moving forward to identify those who were profiting. I hope all municipalities follow that lead.
— Shawn Brown, Jericho
What a heartbreaking story. How could this happen on our beautiful island? I remember what an uproar the “Operation Flush the Johns” program made in 2013. The program had its problems but was effective because the names of the men were revealed to the public, and they were embarrassed. Of course, that program was discontinued.
The state should consider replacing Julina Guo and Estelle Davis, co-chairs of the state Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking, who don’t seem to be attaining adequate results. Sex crime task forces should be run by women who understand how disgusting and dehumanizing it would be to be forced to have sex with six or seven men a day.
If the men who use this “service” are identified, the trafficking likely would cease. The judges, lawyers, doctors and others who might use the objects of trafficking have a choice here. The women do not.
— Judith Hanson, Fort Salonga
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