Short film by David Baksh to encourage people to call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 if they think they have encountered victims of sex slave trafficking.
David says:
I remember hearing a news report on the radio toward the end of last year. An illegal brothel had been raided somewhere in the Midlands. The officer in charge of the operation detailed how many girls were kept imprisoned, the terrible conditions they were living in and the abuse they were forced to endure.
The brothel was popular, with a varied and numerous clientle so why, asked the journalist, did it take so long to raid the building? The officer replied that the police had no idea that the girls were being abused.
But surely, continued the reporter, the punters would have seen first hand the poor condition of the girls and tipped the police off. How many calls from the public did his department receive?
None. Perhaps it was the first time he’d said the word out loud, but you could hear the disbelief in the police officer’s voice as he said the word. The journalist was stunned. So was I.
On reflection, you can understand it. Seeing prostitutes is not something most men would want to shout about – or stand up in court and testfy to. The girls’ best hope of rescue and the police’s best source of intelligence slinks off and hopes that someone else has the guts to blow the whistle.
The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. Men aren’t all bad. All they needed was to be reminded to do the right thing and be given the means to do it. Crimestoppers was the obvious solution – anybody calling their number (0800 555 111) has their anonymity guaranteed.
I wrote the script, approached Mick Laurie with it and told him I wanted to target the men most likely to come into contact with these girls by taking the campaign Online, into Adult, Porn and Escort agency websites and chatrooms. Usually, online campaigns steer well clear of those places – in this case, however, to be effective we have to dive right in and swim with the sharks.
With Mick’s blessing, I coralled a team together and we shot and cut the film during February. The result is a powerful appeal that doesn’t preach at or admonish it’s target audience. It’s a pragmatic approach that fits well with Crimestoppers’ front-line philosphy and I’m sure it will do some good.
Mick Laurie, Crimestoppers CEO said: "These women who are victims of trafficking, travel to this country, usually under false pretences and suffer horrific abuse. They are held against their will and often forced to see up to 40 clients per day. The only other people who may know what is happening to them are the men who use their services, who would obviously not want to contact the police. We are appealing to them to give us information if they are suspicious about women they have seen in these circumstances on 0800 555 111. They will not have to give us their name, or any details about themselves, calls are not traced – we guarantee they will remain anonymous."
View this video clip on Vimeo:
www.vimeo.com/clip=62617
Posted by alexlaurie on 2006-04-12 18:07:29
Tagged: , vimeo , sex , slave , traffic , crimestoppers
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