Juris Graney

'Sharks are circling': On the streets with Edmonton's human trafficking and exploitation unit

Part 1: Though it's legal to sell sex, Edmonton's human trafficking and exploitation unit still works to connect with women at risk.

City police detectives Dan McGuigan, Shane Darda and Dan Duiker are three of the officers assigned to Edmonton's human trafficking and exploitation unit, who work to protect sex workers and find those illegally profiting or the "johns" seeking to buy sex. They were photographed on 118 Avenue, an area frequented by johns. Photo by Ian Kucerak /Postmedia

She's wearing track pants and a bedazzled pink hoodie on a fall afternoon. She looks young. When she walks, she staggers slightly, twirling her blond hair and at times, pulling at the long strands and sticking them in the corner of her mouth, sucking on them.

Most of the usual crowd on 97 Street in the Alberta Avenue area barely acknowledge the woman on the corner.

But there are a few.

A voice comes over the secure police tactical channel: "The sharks are circling heavy."

The sharks in this case are johns and the officer on the radio is a member of the city police human trafficking and exploitation unit.

A man in his mid to late 70s, wearing baggy track pants and a battered plaid shirt, his grey hair tucked inside a multi-coloured tuque topped with a floppy pompom, approaches the woman.

The age difference is startling. She could easily be his daughter or possibly even a granddaughter.

But she's an Edmonton police officer and a part-time decoy for the squad formerly known as the vice unit.

He offers her $10 for oral sex and an extra $10 for full sex.

The decoy points him to a nearby alleyway and tells him to meet her there.

He is instead met by three squad cars.

It's 4:23 p.m. on a Thursday.

In 2017, Edmonton police arrested 294 johns in 27 operations, a number that was more than double the previous year's total of 104. A large chunk of those arrests stemmed from stings over multiple days and areas of the city.

In 2018, the number of johns arrested was 154.

Until a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2013, Canada v. Bedford, it was sex workers who were largely punished in the legal system for selling sex. That set off a chain of events that led to Stephen Harper's Conservative government enacting Bill C-36 (the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act), which, among other things, enshrined in the criminal code that it is legal to sell sex but illegal to purchase sex.

Since the change in legislation, Edmonton police have focused their efforts on targeting sexual predators and pimps — and on the education of johns and the protection of sex workers.

When officers from the unit are not working on street stings or hotel busts, they also visit escorts in motels checking on their welfare and well-being as well as checking in on licensed body rub parlours and helping shutter illegal operations. They also, amongst a cavalcade of other investigators, probe organized crime links to human trafficking in the sex industry in the city.

They are also a key partner of the not-for-profit Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation (CEASE), which established the Sex Trade Offender Program (STOP), or john school, an alternative measures program. It seeks to help in the rehabilitation and education of people — predominantly men — caught purchasing sex in the city for the first time.

'You can't profile johns'

No more than 10 minutes after the first john is written up by police during the 97 Street sting, a black truck rolls up. The driver offers the decoy $20 for sex.

Just after 5 p.m., another older man swings by.

Asked to profile what a john looks like or how they act draws a large sigh from EPS Det. Shane Darda. It is something he has been thinking about since he joined the unit.

Sitting behind the steering wheel of the undercover wagon parked on a tree-lined city street, he takes a few seconds to answer.

"You can't profile johns," he said.

They could be soccer dads or dentists, businessmen or street thugs; there is no "typical" john, he said.

The reasons, or excuses, for soliciting street sex are never the same but they fall into broad categories, he adds, before running through a oft-repeated list:

• This is my first time.
• A friend told me about it so I thought I'd try it.
• I'm a sex addict.
• My wife died. I'm divorced. I have cancer.
• Look at me, how else will I get sex.
• Things are rough at home.
• I didn't know it was illegal.

Whether or not you believe the reasons, the consequences are the same. It is illegal to buy sex in Canada.

A dribble of vehicles morphs into a steady stream as the workday ends, funnelling traffic along one of the city's busiest north-south routes.

Vehicles, mostly trucks, prowl the darkening streets, making illegal U-turns and heading up the labyrinthine alleys.

Some of the drivers work inward in concentric circles scoping out the parked vehicles for any sign of a sting operation. Others dart in swiftly and directly toward the women. Some get spooked, like stray cats also prowling the streets.

Those who are spooked may have been caught before and recognize a sting in operation, Darda said. Others have a split second of sanity and take off into the darkness. Some will be back.

Over the ensuing hours more men roll up wanting all different kinds of sex and offering the undercover officer everything from $10 to $60.

One man arrives and the opportunity for sex sends him to the closest drive-thru bank machine where he is blocked at either end by two marked police cars.

He is later charged with uttering threats against a police officer when he threatens to harm the decoy.

Around 8:20 p.m., a silver sedan bites the curve. The driver is a young man in his early 20s.

It's hard to know if he spotted the police but when they finally catch up with him, he looks dumbfounded and confused.

He's a pizza delivery driver with $85 and change in a plastic bag with receipts, a hotbox for pizzas in the back seat, a used condom on the floor of what he says is his brother's car and around $180 in his wallet.

He offered to pay the decoy $20 for sex.

Sitting handcuffed in the back of the police cruiser, he kicks at the floor but his foot slips and hits the barrier.

"I'm going to get fired from work. I have no other job," he protests.

He repeats it again: "I'm going to be late to the store."

When the officers discover he doesn't have his licence on him and he gives two different dates of birth and doesn't register in their system, his night with the police is about to get a lot longer.

All told, seven men, ranging in age from their early 20s to late 70s, all face the same charge.

Some will have extra charges tacked on but at the core is a charge of obtaining sexual services for consideration.

Det. Dan Duiker talks with two women along 118 Avenue, as part of the unit's work conduct welfare checks on sex workers. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

'Wanna party?'

Not everyone agrees with the manner in which police conduct these operations.

In late December 2018, a case tied to a john arrest went before the Alberta provincial court. The john filed a charter notice seeking a judicial stay of proceedings on the basis that a similar sting in late 2017 where he was caught attempting to buy sex was "a clear case of entrapment."

Court documents show the conversation that is oft repeated by decoys:

Decoy: Hi.

Accused: Hi.

D: Wanna party?

A: How much is that gonna cost me?

D: $40 for a blow job.

A: That's too much.

D: I need to pay my rent. I can blow you for $20.

A: Ok. How about I give you $25?

D: OK. $25 for a blow job.

A: Yes.

D: Ok. Pull in the alley. I will jump in.

In her written decision, provincial court Judge Jody Moher said there was no evidence of threats, trickery or deceit on behalf of the decoy, there was no evidence the accused was "vulnerable in any way" and the accused "willingly and actively participated in the brief negotiation of sexual services for a fee."

Moher herself pointed to the precedent setting Bedford decision which described street prostitutes as "a particularly marginalized population … because of financial desperation, drug addictions, mental illness, or compulsion from pimps, they often have little choice but to sell their bodies for money."

"The conduct of the EPS vice operation that evening would not shock or outrage the community and similarly would not undermine constitutional values or bring the administration of justice into disrepute," Moher said.

The case was dismissed.

'I'm not a bad guy … I'm just stupid'

About a month after the street sting, the unit, along with an arrest team of four officers, sit around a motel room in the city's west end.

It's one of those fall Edmonton afternoons where it doesn't know if it wants to rain or snow. It does neither.

The hotel room is the typical cookie cutter-style offering you'd find anywhere in Canada; generic artwork adorns the walls, a window looks out onto a largely empty parking lot, the blinds kind of work (but not really) and there is a giant bed with a massive television at the opposite end of the room.

The night's operation focuses on websites which allow people to offer sexual services.

Earlier in the day, before everyone converged in the motel, unit members posted a series of ads. There is nothing extraordinary about them, just ads offering a chance at a potential rendezvous and a hint at the acts on offer.

Within an hour, the johns begin reaching out via text message. Sitting on the couch, unit members tap away at the keyboards on their cellphones replying to as many as two dozen men at any one time.

The volley of bleeps, pings and dings is partly masked by a replay of the eastern Canadian Football League semifinal between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the B.C. Lions on television in the background.

Just after 4 p.m. the first john arrives. It's a Wednesday.

The processing room falls quiet, still enough that all that can be heard is the exhaust fan whirring in the bathroom and the creaking of the leather belt worn by the police officer whose face is squished against the door, his eye trained on the peep hole.

Within a matter of minutes the door across the hall where the arrest team is located opens and beeps. The officer cracks his door and opens it wider as a handcuffed man is led in and seated against the wall.

The man is wearing ripped blue jeans, runners, a black shirt and a black jacket. He tells the officers he is 30. As he sits down and sees the entire room of police and observers, he lets out a deep sigh and keeps his eyes trained on the stained carpet.

One of the arresting officers reads him his rights as another empties his pockets and lays out his belonging on a chair beside him.

"Do you understand?" the officer asks.

"Yes," he says in a croaky voice.

He asks if he can stand up and lean against the wall. The officers don't have a problem with that.

"I'm sorry to have to ask this but my pants are falling down," he says.

"You just want them hiked up?"

"Yeah I was born with a small ass. What can I say?"

Det. Dan Duiker, a tall, barrel-chested man, moves across the room and sits across from the first would-be client.

"I didn't understand that this was illegal," the john says, his voice cracking with nerves.

"It is illegal to buy sex and that's what you were doing here even if you say you weren't," Duiker replies.

The man's head drops: "This is wrong obviously. I f***ed up."

"This is not the end of the world," Duiker continues. "Guys make bad choices all the time. It's just a matter of learning from this."

He mentions the alternative measures program. If this is his first offence and he has no serious criminal history, the john will be offered a placement in john school.

"It's an opportunity to make right what you've done here," Duiker says.

The john starts to get anxious. His breathing gets heavier and his eyes well with tears. He starts sniffling.

Duiker explains that if he takes part and successfully completes the STOPS, the charge is withdrawn "and this never happened and you walk out much wiser and hopefully you don't make the same decision again."

It will cost him $750. The money, which is the fine for the offence he is being charged with, will go to CEASE and its non-profit work.

"That's the opportunity you have today. It's a pretty fortunate opportunity to have," Duiker says.

The john tries to rein back the tears but they have already started.

"The course will give you the chance to work out why you are here, why you are doing this and why you are in this situation."

"I'm not a bad guy. I'm just stupid," the john says.

Duiker replies: "No one says you're a bad guy. That's why we are not treating you like a bad guy. You made a bad decision."

And then the interaction takes an interesting turn.

"Can you apologize to that girl for me too because …," the john begins before breaking down again.

"I'm genuinely ashamed and I apologize. I'm f***ing happy actually that you guys are helping me right now. Seriously. I needed this. Thank you. Thank you."

Det. Dan Duiker and Det. Shane Darda leave a motel room as members of the EPS Human Trafficking and Exploitation unit conduct a welfare check on a sex worker in late November. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

An 'I don't care' attitude

Soon after the first john is released, another man makes his way up from the lobby to the motel room. He wants the decoy to call him Mr. X.

He is offering $170 for half an hour of sex, including anal sex. By 5:25 p.m., he is handcuffed sitting in the same room.

Unlike the first john, Mr. X shows little concern about his situation. He is wearing a hoodie, slacks, black runners and glasses. He is clean shaven. He said the reason he was there is because he is stressed with upcoming exams.

In the same calm and soft voice, Duiker goes through his spiel again.

"You know, it's illegal to purchase sex but it's not illegal for the girls or the guys who are selling it," Duiker says.

"You don't know if that girl is being exploited or if she has a pimp in the next room who is making her do this and by doing that. And you hiring her you are just making that pimp rich, understand?"

"There are lot of problems behind the scene, a lot of exploitation and a lot of victimization."

After the handcuffs are ratcheted off, Mr. X. picks up his belongings from a chair — a wallet, some receipts and car keys and a cellphone.

An officer tells him that when he leaves he must head out through a staircase at the rear of the hotel. He does what he is told but before he leaves, his phone blinks revealing a photo of him holding a child.

As he is leaving, Duiker turns and explains that his reaction — or lack thereof — is quite normal.

The man's denial of having ever obtained sexual services in the past is questionable at best, he says.

In his experience a majority of johns just shrug it off with an "I don't care" attitude but not every john reacts the same way.

Previous motel stings haven't always gone as planned.

In one instance a man attempted to lunge for a black sports bag he had as he entered the room, but he was tackled and subdued by an officer.

When police opened the bag, they found a loaded hand gun, ammunition and an assortment of drugs.

'They're just excuses'

As this night progresses, a conga line of johns are arrested, processed and released. They range in age from their 30s to late 60s and hold myriad jobs from the medical field to mechanics, plumbers and welders.

At 7 p.m., a handyman carrying condoms, cash and keys is brought in.

"I have no idea what to do in this situation," the 48-year-old admits.

He's flush in the face, his leg is tapping furiously at the ground and he is breathing heavily.

"I've made a very stupid mistake."

His blood-shot eyes make way for tears as Duiker probes him.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No!" he exclaims.

"If I had a girlfriend I wouldn't be here."

He goes on to tell the officer that he recently broke up with his long-term girlfriend and thought that this was going to help him get over it but he stops himself mid-sentence.

"Oh it's all bullshit," he says. "They're just excuses."

Only a few bother putting up a defence. One said he didn't know it was illegal. Another said he only wanted a massage. Most just sit silently waiting for it to be over.

"You are rolling the dice," Duiker says. "You are either getting robbed or having sex. It's a bad decision."

Meanwhile, the officers continue to communicate with more men online.

Despite the website being littered with dozens upon dozens of other profiles offering all manner of sexual fetishes, the small team is engaging electronically with as many as 20 men at a time.

Their online ads are designed to look ordinary. Too much can lead to too few contacts. Too little and they will be drowned out in the sea of naked and near-naked profiles.

By the end of the night, the ads, sandwiched between hundreds of legitimate offerings, will be viewed thousands of times. By the time the bedside clock hits 10 p.m., a total of nine men will be charged.

But even after the ads have been removed, officers' phones will continue to buzz for weeks, even months, later from johns who screen capture the ads and keep their own files.

A lingering reminder about just how much work police still have left to do.