John Bermingham
Staff Reporter

p. A11.

Dosanjh steps up the fight against child sexploitation

The provincial government announced plans yesterday to further crack down on the sexual exploitation of children.

Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh said his ministry will provide up to $75,000 for a computer database program developed by two Vancouver police officers to track john's movements.

In addition, Dosanjh said, his staff is reviewing the laws that govern the hooker trade, with a view to making it tougher for pimps and johns to operate, while giving the government greater latitude to intervene where children are being exploited.

"This is obviously a very, very difficult issue," said Dosanjh. "I'm increasingly concerned about the growing problem of sexually exploited youth in B.C. and the fact that johns and pimps are targetting younger and younger children."

The Deter and Identify Sex trade Consumers program was developed by officers Oscar Ramos and Raymond Payette to create a database of johns, pimps and prostitutes.

DISC has been picked up by a number of other municipalities and cities in North America. It will also be used to hunt for the man or men responsible for the disappearance of more than 20 women from the downtown east side.

"This money will allow us to fully implement the system and complete links with other interested police agencies," said Payette.