Police in Salo change course on brothel investigation

Buyers of sex services to be investigated after Supreme Police Command intervention

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Police in Salo have replaced the head of the investigation into a case of alleged pimping at the Syvälampi Motel. The police now plan to investigate whether or not a number of men who bought sex services at the motel should be prosecuted.
      "We decided to change the head of the investigation, because the uproar around the investigation proved great", says Salo Chief of Police Markku Nurminen.
     
On Wednesday Helsingin Sanomat reported that the previous head of the investigation had said that the police had decided not to investigate the activities of the customers of the prostitutes, and would instead focus on the issue of aggravated procurement.
      The investigation is one of the first into crimes involving prostitution since October, when the current ban on buying sex services from victims of pimping and trafficking in humans came into effect.
      Markku Nurminen says that the police will investigate the actions of those suspected of buying sex services. The previous head of the investigation, Pertti Läksy, has been replaced by Pekka Ylikippari.
      The formal decision to replace Läksy with Ylikippari was made by Police Chief Nurminen. He says that he was instructed on the matter by the Provincial Police Command of West Finland.
      The country’s top police official, National Police Commissioner Markku Salminen, has also been active in the matter.
      Salminen notes that the law on buying sex services is a new one, which the police themselves must obey and enforce, so that others might do so as well. He added that no individual heads of investigations have the right to interpret legislation in a manner that goes against the written law.
      Buying sex services from victims of procurement or trafficking in humans can bring a fine or up to six months in prison.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police to exclude buyers from investigation into prostitution ring (10.1.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat