The Value of Site Surveys

For several years now I have on occasion conducted what I refer to as site surveys of different communities or regions to try and accurately assess the nature and severity of illegal activities as they relate to illicit massage businesses.

These site surveys tend to be fairly labor intensive and are usually undertaken at the request of someone who needs the information for a specific reason, such as creating legislation or some other focused purpose. I also do surveys when I am going to teach one of my classes in a community of which I am not completely familiar. They assist me in bolstering my knowledge of the nature and scope of any possible local problems.

Because of the rapidly changing landscape of illicit massage these site surveys are generally like a snapshot with their accuracy fading fairly quickly, yet they often do provide a fairly useful bit of information.

In fact, I just completed an online based survey for the Olympia area here in Washington State for someone and because of a class I have scheduled there this coming August 2nd, it turned out to be kind of the two-birds-and-one-stone thing in this instance, you might say.

If you are interested in taking the class in Olympia on August 2nd you can register for it here.

Over time I have honed the site survey process down a bit, but typically it is a three to four day effort to get things reasonably correct and generally results in two separate documents. One with specifics for myself and/or the requesting party and another that serves as a brief summary of findings that can be distributed to others.

Understandably the more detailed document can sometimes result in the discovery, or more accurately, the allegation of criminal conduct that needs to be distributed a little more carefully. The site assessment summary document however commonly just breaks down the detailed findings in a more palatable format that doesn’t point out a specific business as being criminally engaged and keeps me out of civil court.

Commonly the site survey for a specific business in an area might look something like this:

Business: John Doe Massage
D.B.A. Per Dept. of Revenue: John Doe Enterprises, LLC
Corporate Listing: John Doe Enterprises, LLC
Address: 1234 9th Ave., Olympia, Washington 98506
Business Setting: Strip Mall
Phone: 123-456-7890
Date Opened: 01-01-13
Entity/Owner: John A. Doe listed as corporate officer(s)

Massage License found on file under current owner name: NO

Interesting Details: The ads on backpage.com are not provocative but lack phone numbers, apparently preferring to be contacted by e-mail. The best phone number found for the business through city business licensing records is for a California area code, 098-765-4321

Listings on craigslist.com: Craigslist.com ad is not provocative but refers to this business as being “World’s Best Massage!”

Listings on backpage.com: Backpage.com seems to provide the only accurate information on this business aligned with the Department of Revenue records. The ads are not provocative but interestingly lack phone numbers, apparently preferring to be contacted by e-mail.

Reviews on eroticmp.com: Five reviews under this business name between December of 2012 and April of 2013 lists the correct address and phone number, however the photograph provided is for another business located at 7777 Lacey Blvd., Suite D. It should be noted that the reviews provided did not indicate the availability of sexual services.

Reviews on rubmaps.com: One review under this listed business name in May of 2014 is also likely not accurate, as with the eroticmp.com review it lists the correct phone number; however it lists the address as 7777 Lacey Blvd. The address does match the photograph provided on the site for the business believed to be at that address. It should be noted that the review provided here did not indicate the availability of sexual services.

Conclusion: This seems to be an example of how inaccurate consumer reviews can be at times, and it’s my opinion that although there is a possibility that unlicensed practice may be occurring here the professional presentation of the business and a lack of information indicating a problem leads me to believe that although this business may utilize unlicensed practitioners there is a lack of accurate data to indicate more than that at this time.

Needless to say getting the information correct often means sorting through a lot of clearly inaccurate data and because there is a possibility of error this information ends up being screened carefully both for my own protection and the business in question.

The more general site summary usually ends up looking something like this:

FINDINGS:

Through this process I identified a total of three at risk, or otherwise marginalized commercial massage businesses in City A and thirteen such businesses in City B (Washington). The breakdown by city is as follows.

City A: Of the three businesses identified in City A I surmised there were two with moderate concerns about unlicensed practice, prostitution or human trafficking. More likely than not these are businesses that may be involved in unlicensed practice. The two most at risk were located in strip malls with a third business unlikely to be engaged in illegal or otherwise illicit practice being located in a converted residence. In two of the three instances I determined, as best able, that two of the businesses were owned and/or operated by individuals who did not show a record of a Washington State massage license.

City B: Of the thirteen businesses identified in City B I surmised there were three that were unquestionably engaged in prostitution on a full time basis. Two businesses indicated what I would classify as a significant likelihood of being engaged in prostitution, while two others presented moderate concerns of illegal conduct, most likely unlicensed practice. Two businesses presented little concern for their business activities; however unlicensed practice can not be determined. Four businesses simply lacked enough data to allow me to make a significant determination.

Eight businesses were located in strip malls, with two of these being clearly engaged in sexual commerce, but risk factors were otherwise pretty evenly distributed in this group. Two businesses were located in commercial office parks as best I could determine with one being clearly engaged in sexual commerce while the other was at what I would categorize as being a moderate risk for the same activity. Three businesses were located in residential settings with properties converted to commercial use. None of these were at a high risk for prostitution as best I could determine, however clear data was somewhat lacking to make a strong determination in most of those instances.

The number of business owners lacking a state massage license, as best I could determine, was of real concern here. Of the thirteen businesses surveyed only one could be determined to have an owner holding a state massage license. Three were what I would categorize as undetermined with nine appearing to not have an owner with a valid massage license.

As you can understand it takes a fair amount of time to collect all of the available information and sort it into something meaningful, but generally I find it to be a useful exercise and can provide a better picture as to what’s going on in a community or region when done carefully.

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Butch Watson, L.M.P. / R.P.D. (ret.)
Lavon “Butch” Watson is a retired police detective and a successful licensed massage practitioner since 1997. In 2008 he combined his diverse skill set to become an acknowledged national expert on illicit massage and personal safety for massage practitioners. His popular CE personal safety training for the massage practitioner is the most unique class offered anywhere in the United States. His informative and eye-opening CE ethics training classes address every aspect of illicit massage and its effects on the legitimate massage practice, as well as the often silent victims of human trafficking.