REMARKS
Introduction to Intro 970 on licensing massage therapy businesses
0:07:02
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43 sec
Council Member Menin introduces Intro 970, which proposes licensing requirements for massage therapy businesses to combat human trafficking and illicit activities.
- Massage therapy businesses are frequently used as covers for sex trafficking
- The national human trafficking hotline identified illicit massage or spa business locations as the most common places for trafficking victims in New York State
- Recent NYPD operations closed commercial locations posing as massage parlors but operating illicitly
- Intro 970 would establish a license requirement for fixed location massage businesses to provide additional enforcement tools
Julie Menin
0:07:02
Just as hotels can be used to conceal human trafficking, massage therapy businesses are frequently used as covers for sex trafficking.
0:07:09
The national human trafficking hotline found that the illicit massage or spa business locations are the most common places where trafficking victims end up working in New York State.
0:07:20
In January of this year, the NYPD executed court orders to temporarily close the desert commercial locations in Roosevelt Island and Queens that were posing as massage parlors, but operating as illicit massage businesses.
0:07:34
Intro 970 would establish a license requirement for fixed location massage businesses to provide the city additional enforcement tools to address illicit massage businesses in our communities.
