Thursday, October 06, 2005
Goodbye Cuddles!
I know I'm a bit late for writing about this story, and I have already said just a little here, but I would like to comment on the story of last weekend whereby West Midlands Police raided a massage parlour on the Hagley Road, south Birmingham, due to allegations that it was a brothel.
I have a big, big problem with this news story, which I've been meaning to write about ever since. Namely, this is that the parlour, which went by the name of Cuddles(!), was located on a main arterial road, one of the busiest in Birmingham, and, therefore, one of the busiest in the country outside of London. Most commuters from the south of Birmingham travel in on the Hagley Road. I used to travel on that road six or seven times a week, and I knew, just as everyone else did, that Cuddles was a brothel years ago. I knew that at least six years ago. Why on earth did it take the police so long to raid the place?
One of two uncomfortable possibilities seems to be the case: either West Midlands Police are so out of touch with their own community that they didn't know something that was abundantly plain to tens of thousands of people, or, rather more likely, they knew, but just didn't care very much.
Female police officers lead a woman away from Cuddles 'massage parlour' after the raid last week.
I have a big, big problem with this news story, which I've been meaning to write about ever since. Namely, this is that the parlour, which went by the name of Cuddles(!), was located on a main arterial road, one of the busiest in Birmingham, and, therefore, one of the busiest in the country outside of London. Most commuters from the south of Birmingham travel in on the Hagley Road. I used to travel on that road six or seven times a week, and I knew, just as everyone else did, that Cuddles was a brothel years ago. I knew that at least six years ago. Why on earth did it take the police so long to raid the place?
One of two uncomfortable possibilities seems to be the case: either West Midlands Police are so out of touch with their own community that they didn't know something that was abundantly plain to tens of thousands of people, or, rather more likely, they knew, but just didn't care very much.
Female police officers lead a woman away from Cuddles 'massage parlour' after the raid last week.
Comments:
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I'm a bit suspicious about all this business about many of the women working there having been trafficked. You'd think the police and the home office would sit down and get their stories staight, before prancing about on the telly as if to say 'look at us, we're doing our job'.
# posted by 
: 9:15 pm
: 9:15 pm
Happyviolet -
On the red light district front, I think you have a very good point. In fact, I was thinking a bit more about this last night, and it strikes me as a distinct possibility that the Police knew full well about the activities there, but only chose to act when the issue of people-trafficking came into the equation. I'd like to see someone from the Police defend this stance.
Clairwil -
Very much so - it's been wholly noticeable in this story that the allegations have varied wildly. One thing that did upset me yesterday was the news that the women involved will be given a period of 'rest and reflection' before being deported. If the Police allow something like this to happen on their own turf, the least they can do is help the victims get a new life afterwards.
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On the red light district front, I think you have a very good point. In fact, I was thinking a bit more about this last night, and it strikes me as a distinct possibility that the Police knew full well about the activities there, but only chose to act when the issue of people-trafficking came into the equation. I'd like to see someone from the Police defend this stance.
Clairwil -
Very much so - it's been wholly noticeable in this story that the allegations have varied wildly. One thing that did upset me yesterday was the news that the women involved will be given a period of 'rest and reflection' before being deported. If the Police allow something like this to happen on their own turf, the least they can do is help the victims get a new life afterwards.
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