Police have warned of a looming crackdown on illegal prostitution in the ACT, fearing that sex trafficking rings run by ''dubious'' organised syndicates may be operating across the city.
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The ACT's Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg said the force would place increased scrutiny on unregulated brothels over the next 12 months, as they investigated whether human trafficking was occurring on a major scale.
Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said the legal, regulated brothels in the ACT were generally clean, healthy, and had relatively low levels of associated criminal behaviour.
But he suspected that organised illegal prostitution rings, operating out of sight of local authorities, could be involved in sex trafficking. ''I think there are likely syndicated networks that are working and I wouldn't be surprised to realise that there are also trafficked sex workers in that unregulated industry,'' he said.
''We're going to take a closer examination of the unregulated industry, just to satisfy ourselves that we don't have major human trafficking, sex trafficking problems, or other criminal problems in that sector.''
The increased police focus on the sector comes after a recently completed review of Canberra's prostitution laws, partly prompted by the death of a 17-year-old girl who had overdosed on drugs in a Fyshwick brothel in 2008.
The Assembly committee released its findings last month, calling for a greater focus on sex trafficking in the ACT, among other things.
It also recommended that police be given more resources to manage organised crime in the sex industry, and for harsher penalties for the employment of underage workers in brothels.
Mr Quaedvlieg said a high level of organisation typically existed behind illegal prostitution. This sophisticated organisation was ''rarely done by legitimate commercial enterprises''.
''It's always run by, at best, dubious networks, but more ordinarily by organised criminal groups, and I'm talking about OMCGs [outlaw motorcycle gangs], and Asian organised crime,'' he said.
He said the need to regularly bring in new prostitutes from interstate was crucial for the business success of many establishments.
''If you're a network and you've got the same sex workers coming in and working in your brothel every night, your customer base is going to reduce significantly.''
Mr Quaedvlieg made numerous recommendations to last year's review, including a call for greater police powers to help stop minors being exploited in the sex industry.
