Though many licensed escort agencies obviously offer sex for cash, Calgary police refuse to prosecute for prostitution unless someone complains.
That was the candid admission of veteran vice detective Gordon McCulloch, testifying at the trial of former firefighter the accused of pimping hookers while running an escort agency.
McCulloch, asked how many escort agencies he’d investigated in nearly seven years on the vice squad, replied two, “including this one.”
After agreeing most escort advertisements are thinly-veiled promotions for paid sex, the 25-year police force veteran acknowledged that police turn a blind eye to escort agencies, unless a complaint is filed.
“Aye, sir,” responded McCulloch, when asked whether the police “pretty much leave escorts and escort agencies alone.”
Defence lawyer Pat Fagan is in the midst of a voir dire, or trial-within-a-trial, in which he is trying to prove that escort agencies, as a city licensed business, are not illegal, and that all escort agencies are quietly understood to provide paid sex.
The accused was allegedly forced to resign from the fire service after being charged with living on the avails of prostitution, as well as procuring sex, directing the movements of prostitutes and keeping a common bawdy house.
The accused was charged following which took place three years ago, in which a 15-year-old girl was among the people apprehended.