City aims to deter human trafficking by regulating massage industry - Lawrence Journal World

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City attorneys have drafted a local ordinance that aims to combat human-trafficking operations disguised as massage parlors.

The local ordinance would regulate a massage industry that currently doesn’t require licenses or background checks for a business to operate.

Lawrence has close to 50 massage businesses, and city attorneys have been working for months to write an ordinance after urging from the Lawrence Police Department.

“This whole ordinance idea originated with the police department as a way to help combat human trafficking, because of their investigations and experience,” said Maria Garcia, assistant city attorney for Lawrence.

Kansas is one of only a few states that do not regulate the massage industry. Human-trafficking operations have taken advantage of the lack of regulations, and both the Lawrence police department and the Douglas County district attorney have encouraged Lawrence to use city code to help fight the problem.

It has been about nine months since the work on the ordinance began, and Garcia said it will amount to a standalone chapter in the city code. Garcia said though the ordinance is still in its first draft, it currently has provisions on a licensing and permitting process, application and fees, and education or training requirements. The possibility of having inspections is also being considered, she said.

City staff have distributed the draft ordinance to local massage businesses and are gathering their feedback. In October, the city sent letters to 44 such businesses and later met with about 30 local massage therapists, according to a city memo.

Garcia said that Police Chief Tarik Khatib and Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson have been at the meetings with massage business owners to explain why the ordinance is needed.

“One of the ways to help combat that and keep people safer is to regulate certain businesses, and that includes massage therapy,” Garcia said.

Human trafficking is a form of slavery that has recently received increasing attention across the country, with various states creating task forces to address the issue. Human trafficking is believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world, according to the FBI. It includes forced labor, domestic servitude and commercial sex trafficking.

Absence of statewide regulation allowed sex-traffickers to bring their operation to Lawrence even after being convicted of similar crimes in another Kansas town. Two Chinese nationals, Chen Li and Guihong Xiao, were convicted last year of human trafficking and promoting the sale of sexual relations at their massage parlor in Lawrence. In 2013, the two had been found guilty of promoting prostitution at two massage businesses in Bonner Springs.

Lawrence would not be the first city in the state to adopt such an ordinance. In September, Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson sent a letter to the Lawrence City Commission with examples of how the industry has been regulated across the state, with examples from Lenexa, Overland Park and Wichita.

The ordinance may also have other effects on businesses that have been allowed to go unchecked for years. Currently, massage businesses don’t necessarily require formal training to operate, and while some local businesses voluntarily provide the educational backgrounds of their massage therapists, others do not.

Because the industry has not been regulated, Garcia said she could not say what percentage of massage businesses in Lawrence use staff who are not formally trained in massage. But, one thing that Garcia said some business owners are pushing for is a grandfather provision to the ordinance for longstanding businesses. Whether that provision will be included is yet to be determined, she said.

“We’ve been communicating and we’re still working on making this an ordinance that’s acceptable to everybody,” Garcia said, noting that the city is having another meeting with business owners Thursday. “It’s definitely a work in progress.”

Lawrence’s ordinance regulating massage businesses is expected to come before the City Commission for review early next year.

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