倫敦市政府電話掃黃 奧運前打擊色情業
Mobile phone networks have been asked to cut off pimps and prostitutes ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
City Hall chiefs have called on top phone companies to help crack down on prostitution and trafficking in the lead up to the sporting event.
They want help targeting numbers advertised on thousands of sex calling cards that litter phone boxes throughout the capital.
Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for policing, said the mobile phone numbers are a valuable resource for those behind the sex industry.
He said an agreement must be reached between mobile phone networks and police that sees them taken out of use as soon as they are identified.
Mr Malthouse said: "If you are an American tourist and if you walk into a telephone box you would think it was a sex shop.
"We want a streamlined, agreed process for barring these numbers because they become very valuable for a number of reasons.
"Firstly, they become a source of repeat business. Plus the numbers operate as a kind of switchboard, there will be several poor girls operating behind the number.
"Hopefully it will become dangerous to advertise your number in these boxes because you may loose your business.
"If you are a trafficker or pimp all you are interested in is money, you are certainly not interested in the welfare of the women or young girls."
Chief executives of all the major mobile operators have been invited to a meeting at City Hall in October.
City Hall named Vodafone, Orange, Virgin and T-Mobile as the main companies in their sights.
Police have already warned that the Olympics may fuel an unprecedented boom in London's sex industry.
Sex workers from across the world are expected to attempt to cash in on thousands of site workers, spectators and athletes.
Mr Malthouse has campaigned to ban sex service calling cards since 2000 when he worked as a councillor in Westminster.
At one point campaigners stood in Oxford Street handing out calling cards printed with details of mobile phone company bosses.
Placing prostitute calling cards in phone boxes is a criminal offence but those leaving cards have to be caught in the act, making it difficult for police to arrest them.
日前，倫敦市政府要求手機運營商在2012年倫敦奧運會舉辦之前停止爲色情工作者提供通訊服務。
市政廳官員呼籲國內幾大手機運營商在奧運會籌備期間幫助打擊賣淫和性掮客。
市政府要求運營商幫助鎖定性服務名片上所廣告的電話號碼，這些名片遍佈倫敦各個電話亭。
主管警務的副市長基特•馬爾薩烏斯稱，這些手機號碼對於性工作者來說都是很有價值的生意來源。
他表示，手機運營商應和警方達成一致，號碼一旦被鎖定，就應立即停用。
馬爾薩烏斯說：“如果你是一名美國遊客，當你走進倫敦的電話亭時，你會覺得那是個性商店。”
“我們想採用一種高效協同的方式來禁用這些號碼，由於多種原因，這些號碼變得十分有價值。”
“首先，這些號碼可以招攬回頭客，再加上這些號碼類似於總機，所以電話號碼的背後往往是好幾個可憐的女孩。”
“希望這能讓他們意識到今後在電話亭貼性服務電話會很危險，因爲你可能會丟掉飯碗。”
“如果你是個掮客或者皮條客，你在乎的只是錢，你當然不會關心那些女性或年輕女孩的幸福。”
英國國內所有大型手機運營商的總裁受邀於十月參加在倫敦市政廳召開的一次會議。
倫敦市政廳已將沃達豐集團、Orange電信公司、維珍通信公司和T-Mobile通信公司列爲其主要合作公司。
警方提醒稱，奧運會將給倫敦的性產業帶來空前的繁榮。
據稱，來自世界各地的性工作者將從成千上萬名建築工人、觀衆和運動員那裏招攬生意。
從2000年開始，馬爾薩烏斯就開展了取締性服務名片的運動，當時他還是威斯敏斯特市的一名議員。
當時，活動倡議者站在牛津街街頭，向民衆分發印有手機公司老闆詳細信息的名片。
在電話亭裏張貼性服務名片是一種犯罪行爲，但必須要抓到現行纔可定罪，這使得警方很難逮捕他們。
Vocabulary:
trafficking：trade in some specific commodity or service, often of an illegal nature（非法買賣，販賣）
repeat business：回頭客
cash in on：to take advantage of or capitalize on（靠……賺錢，乘機利用）
be caught in the act: 當場被捕
