Shining Light on the Role of Drivers in Prostitution

[PolotinnK]

Amen! To that seems simple but in order for that to happen we need to uproot the people in congress that still believe we are a puritanical society from years past! These are the same people by the way who are found sucking off of cross dresser in a dc hotel room with a pound of crack on the night stand... Oh the hypocrisy does it ever end!

 

[Ashleigh]

So, if a girl all dolled up flag a livery cab to do an outcall falls under this bill?
Or guys flagging a cab downtown to get laid uptown?
If people got fined for doing these things, is more money to the city!
Christine Quinn wants to be a Mayor, so why not start with shit based on ONE person experience.
I never heard of cabbies being pimps...they barely pay attention to their passengers while driving like maniacs around town.

 

[Yamilea?]

I know someone that use to do this and he got 25 bucks a Pop and that was about 12 years ago
These dudes must make Big bucks now.I guess that work can come along with a lot of danger though.

 

[cyanne2ak]

Makes sense, it is an election year.

 

[Kevin H]

It is the latest trend to link all sexual services to trafficking. The feds did this in Providence when indoor prostitution was legal there.

 

[whiavncc]

Legalize it an tax it and the problem goes away.

 

[bunncat]

Surely you can't be suggesting that our political leaders would take misguided or ill-informed action jeopardizing the personal freedom of the citizenry simply to cultivate the appearance of tackling a social problem for the ultimate purpose of their own political gain. That would be shocking, I tell you.

 

[Princesa Z]

It sounds like a bunch of people are eager to "do something" without first taking the time to understand the scope of this issue.

 

[sarah w]

It sounds like a bunch of people are eager to "do something" without first taking the time to understand the scope of this issue.

 

[Sanam]

Several advocates for sex trafficking victims are pushing the City Council for legislation that would penalize livery car drivers for knowingly transporting individuals forced into prostitution.

Lori Cohen and Kathleen Slocum, both senior staff attorneys at the organization Sanctuary for Families, described the role for-hire drivers can play in the sex trafficking industry. They acknowledged that the vast majority of drivers are honest, hardworking individuals. But for those drivers working alongside pimps to ferry victims, Cohen likened their services to "brothels on wheels."

"It is an open secret that delivery has become a preferred method for promoting prostitution in New York City, as seen clearly in the advertisements from this morning's Spanish language newspapers," said Cohen.

At a city council hearing Wednesday, council members also heard a first-hand account of sex trafficking from a victim who was able to get help after more than a year of forced prostitution. The woman, who testified from behind a screen under the name "Sophia," recalled how drivers played an active role in the sex trafficking network and reaped huge profits. She told the packed committee hearing room how drivers shuttled her around the New York area seven days a week, where she was forced to perform sexual acts on 10 to 20 clients per night.

Sophia described how drivers even knew the likes and dislikes of clients.
"Before each stop, the driver would order me how much to charge, whether to use my own condoms and lubricant or the client's, whether to make noise or stay completely quiet during sex," she said.

Council members on the Committee on Women's Issues and the Committee on Transportation introduced two bills aimed at chipping away at the sex trafficking industry. One bill proposes a $10,000 penalty for drivers who knowingly participate in sex trafficking and asks the Taxi and Limousine Commission to institute an education program on sex trafficking for all drivers. The other bill raises penalties for driving an unlicensed vehicle for hire.

David Yassky, commissioner of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, said he supports the idea of tougher penalties for unlicensed activity and for those who participate in prostitution. But, he said the education program included in the bill is too costly. He said that, without external funding, the cost would be borne by drivers. The agency suggested creating an information packet or pamphlet that could be distributed to drivers instead.

Other critics of the legislation argue it duplicates state and federal sex trafficking laws already on the books, and unfairly targets cab drivers.

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/dec/14/debate-over-how-dismantle-sex-trafficking-puts-focus-car-services/

 

[Brearizitewex]

It's the flipside of xenophobia. A lot of people see illegal immigrants as criminals, scabs, job-stealing scum, etc. Nevermind that they are mostly decent hardworking people who are just trying to make a go. Framing one as the victim instead of the perp is a way to keep up the hate when the person in question is hard to hate -- a cute, sincere young woman.

It's also the flipside of sexual attraction. People get a hardon over attractive girl; it's natural. Those who can't have her physically often take to it the next level and get obsessed in one way or another. Women too -- this hardon goes metaphorical if need be. There's plenty of crime and exploitation of labor in the world, but a lot of people feel super-heroic when they're fighting against sexual exploitation in particular -- I think this indignation is just another way of "possessing" women, frankly. (Damn, am I a feminist? Well, I sure do like girls...) And they probably hope, not too far below the surface, that if they take up her cause she will reward them with affection.

Obviously I can't speak to Sofia's case in particular, and lord knows there's plenty of disgusting behavior out there (in this business and every other!) that needs a kick in the crotch or worse. But with no actual allegations of abuse beyond driving a girl to and fro, and offering her work, a crusade against taxi drivers seems more like a power trip than an opportunity for justice.

 

[RICKYS GIRL]

Belly up to this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/nyregion/council-to-seek-penalties-for-prostitutes-drivers.html


Sofia, a sweet-voiced and cherubic 24-year-old, was one of the lucky ones: She managed to escape much of the suffering shared by the millions of sex workers trafficked throughout the world, and even saw two of her traffickers forced out of the country and back to Mexico.

But the young woman said she still feels that complete justice has eluded her, because the drivers who ferried her from john to john, her de facto bosses, remain at large.

As prostitution has shifted off the streets and into hotels and apartments, the drivers who transport prostitutes have emerged as some of the industry’s most powerful players. Sofia, who uses a pseudonym because she fears retribution from traffickers, said that when she was enslaved as a prostitute, her drivers organized her schedule, drove her to appointments and took half of her earnings before she turned over the remainder to her pimp.

“They are more important than the pimps because they’re the ones who decide everything,” Sofia said softly in Spanish. Her words were translated by a counselor and a lawyer from Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit group that works with domestic violence victims. “I want all of them in jail, or back in their countries. I don’t want to see them working like this.”

On Wednesday, Sofia will testify, from behind a screen, before a joint hearing of the City Council’s Transportation and Women’s Issues Committees, on two pieces of proposed legislation that would penalize drivers who knowingly transport prostitutes.

The first proposal, introduced by Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, would raise the fines on drivers who knowingly transport trafficking victims, and would direct the Taxi and Limousine Commission to add training for all its drivers on the subject of sex trafficking.

The second bill, introduced by Councilman James Vacca and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, seeks to punish those who operate unregistered cars as liveries, with misdemeanor charges, fines and possible prison time, noting that many of the drivers fail to register with the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“Who would have thought that black cars or livery cars were going to become a point in the issue of sex trafficking?” said the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who noted that this would be the Council’s fourth hearing on sex trafficking this year. “We have to hit every way we can to crack down on that effort.”

David S. Yassky, the chairman of the taxi commission, said he wanted to work with the City Council without adding costs for drivers. He suggested that the agency could issue a pamphlet about sex trafficking.

“I don’t know if we need full-blown classroom instruction on this particular topic,” Mr. Yassky said. “We would like to do what we can at the T.L.C. to make sure that car services, livery bases are not participating in reprehensible human trafficking.”

Reporting of sex-trafficking cases seems to be growing more frequent. Lori Cohen, a senior staff attorney with the Anti-Trafficking Initiative of Sanctuary for Families, said that the number of victims it advised had jumped to 293 in the 12-month period that ended June 30, compared with 85 in the previous 12 months.

Sofia estimates that she worked with 70 drivers, who brought her to 5,000 clients. Clients often found drivers’ phone numbers in advertisements placed in newspapers or on cards handed out on the street. When business was slow, her pimp would give her a list and have her call the drivers directly. Her drivers took more of her earnings if she did not finish her appointments within 15 minutes, she said.

Sofia said that the drivers rarely spoke to her, except when they tried to recruit her away from her pimp. “They promised us a better life,” Sofia said. “I know a lot of girls who said they left the pimp they were working with. In the end they just worked for the driver.”

 

[YeahButt]

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Sofia, a sweet-voiced and cherubic 24-year-old, was one of the lucky ones: She managed to escape much of the suffering shared by the millions of sex workers trafficked throughout the world, and even saw two of her traffickers forced out of the country and back to Mexico.

But the young woman said she still feels that complete justice has eluded her, because the drivers who ferried her from john to john, her de facto bosses, remain at large.

As prostitution has shifted off the streets and into hotels and apartments, the drivers who transport prostitutes have emerged as some of the industry’s most powerful players. Sofia, who uses a pseudonym because she fears retribution from traffickers, said that when she was enslaved as a prostitute, her drivers organized her schedule, drove her to appointments and took half of her earnings before she turned over the remainder to her pimp.

“They are more important than the pimps because they’re the ones who decide everything,” Sofia said softly in Spanish. Her words were translated by a counselor and a lawyer from Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit group that works with domestic violence victims. “I want all of them in jail, or back in their countries. I don’t want to see them working like this.”

On Wednesday, Sofia will testify, from behind a screen, before a joint hearing of the City Council’s Transportation and Women’s Issues Committees, on two pieces of proposed legislation that would penalize drivers who knowingly transport prostitutes.

The first proposal, introduced by Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, would raise the fines on drivers who knowingly transport trafficking victims, and would direct the Taxi and Limousine Commission to add training for all its drivers on the subject of sex trafficking.

The second bill, introduced by Councilman James Vacca and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, seeks to punish those who operate unregistered cars as liveries, with misdemeanor charges, fines and possible prison time, noting that many of the drivers fail to register with the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“Who would have thought that black cars or livery cars were going to become a point in the issue of sex trafficking?” said the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who noted that this would be the Council’s fourth hearing on sex trafficking this year. “We have to hit every way we can to crack down on that effort.”

David S. Yassky, the chairman of the taxi commission, said he wanted to work with the City Council without adding costs for drivers. He suggested that the agency could issue a pamphlet about sex trafficking.

“I don’t know if we need full-blown classroom instruction on this particular topic,” Mr. Yassky said. “We would like to do what we can at the T.L.C. to make sure that car services, livery bases are not participating in reprehensible human trafficking.”

Reporting of sex-trafficking cases seems to be growing more frequent. Lori Cohen, a senior staff attorney with the Anti-Trafficking Initiative of Sanctuary for Families, said that the number of victims it advised had jumped to 293 in the 12-month period that ended June 30, compared with 85 in the previous 12 months.

Sofia estimates that she worked with 70 drivers, who brought her to 5,000 clients. Clients often found drivers’ phone numbers in advertisements placed in newspapers or on cards handed out on the street. When business was slow, her pimp would give her a list and have her call the drivers directly. Her drivers took more of her earnings if she did not finish her appointments within 15 minutes, she said.

Sofia said that the drivers rarely spoke to her, except when they tried to recruit her away from her pimp. “They promised us a better life,” Sofia said. “I know a lot of girls who said they left the pimp they were working with. In the end they just worked for the driver.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/nyregion/council-to-seek-penalties-for-prostitutes-drivers.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto