Every time I see something serious happen, I always wait to see if everyone will start taking screening seriously, and it always amazes me how after the initial shock and dismay that it's back to business as usual - providers undercutting each other and thinking that by cutting corners with rates, screening, etc, they can come out ahead. I've actually seen posts and websites by providers bragging about how they don't "hassle" clients with screening (or as they like to call safety and common sense, "drama") like the other providers, and I wonder how long they'll be around.
I've seen giant stings and everyone gets on the boards after and talks about how they have to avoid this neighborhood or property, etc etc. Yet no one, NO one says: just screen your clients. It cures all ills. Neighborhoods, client age or color, alignments of the planets... It all become irrelevant when you do one simple thing and do it right: screen your %*$&@ clients!!!
Now there's been a violent tragedy, and predictably the comments about outrage or about whether it happened in this neighborhood or that (presumably with an uptick in people avoiding some city block or hotel or something as if those kinds of generalities have anything to do with anything), or whether the guy was clean cut, etc etc. But I'm still searching for a thread that begs the question: did the two women who were victimized by this guy screen him before they told him "come on over"? No, I mean REALLY screen him, like with a thing called FACTS, or was their idea of "screening" to go with their "gut", or maybe check his i.d. when he got there - because after all no LEO or psycho was ever licensed to drive, right? Or maybe he said "I'm a nice guy", and they thought "well, if he said it it must be true"? If they had actually used FACTS to screen their clients, would LE need surveillance footage now to find a murderer? How much easier if they actually KNEW WHO THEIR CLIENTS WERE??? Before they GAVE THEIR ADDRESS TO TOTAL STRANGERS and decided to MEET PEOPLE THEY KNEW NOT THE FIRST THING ABOUT ALONE IN A HOTEL ROOM?
Providers who persist in not screening not only put themselves at risk but create a client base resistant to screening, and it makes it harder and harder for a provider who does want to be safe - from EVERY type of risk - to book appointments.
I would seriously just love to see some common sense - before a tragedy occurs to prevent it from happening, as well as after one happens to prevent it from happening again. But all I ever see are people saying beforehand that nothing could ever happen, normally based on the "evidence" that they've never seen anything bad happen before. Then after it does hit the fan, everyone posts links to the newsfeeds and shares anecdotal folk wisdom "advice" about avoiding future problems that's about as effective as leaches were to medical care. How about some FACTS for a change? Some LOGIC, perhaps?
And as far as the little punk who did this - he went into an upscale hotel with witnesses and cameras everywhere (anyone with a grain of common sense would know this, so he's not the brightest bulb) most likely intent on just scaring the women, using their unlikelihood to report to LE to his advantage, but I'll bet never counting on it ending up in murdering someone - so no I don't think it will be necessary for providers to "look out" for this guy at this point. He's pooping his diapers at this point, shaking catatonically in some crawlspace somewhere like the little defective loser he is, realizing just how far in over his head he managed to get himself with this idiot move. Unfortunately (for him) on his first big "heist" his grand total amounted to 800 bucks and a debit card - whoo hoo, what a haul!! His bail, legal defense team, court costs etc will cost what, on the other hand - anyone care to speculate? News reports don't mention him getting anything from the second woman he shot and killed. So we have confirmation that this idiot is caught on camera and will face conviction for murder - yet he got, what? 800 bucks.
My point? A guy this patently STUPID is going to sound just as thoroughly STUPID when he contacts a provider to schedule. Providers, in addition to screening, please raise your $*&@# standards already. When some monosyllabic barely coherent moron contacts you, especially if it's obvious they're immature or in a rush, don't let dollar signs blind you to safety and having some standards and self-respect.
I would bet good money that when this little weasel is caught (within a matter of days) that he turns out to be some sheltered suburban frat boy experiencing some kind of perceived white bread money "crisis" - like his parents cut down on his allowance and he had to cut his lattes down to one a day.
I certainly agree with a lot of what you've said, but I can tell you first hand it's easy for someone to create a fake identity. I'm not going to get into the details of this, nor am I going to discuss my method of screening but I will say this sad situation could happen to anyone.
I had a very good client in NYC who I also felt was a friend rip me off last year. Never had this happen before, so what made this person's behavior change? Hell, I've seen regular clients who were down and out for charitable reasons-just to make them smile, so I was upset that someone I knew and trusted would do this to me.
I have always felt that my personal business model assured safety and respect for myself as well as my client friends (one gent a day-if incall location is used only once). But if I verified someone with a fake identity and he saw me once only to set me up for another time, then my business model is useless.
I am unclear as to whether you are a provider or man, but I think you are quick to judge these unfortunate ladies and the rest of us. You do not walk in every provider's shoes, therefore you cannot offer blanket solutions with your assumptions.
I can tell you that seeing guys over 40 cuts out a lot of the screening BS, but many of these younger problem guys have also called me before they have caused problems for other ladies. And some of them verified just fine.
You call this murderer stupid? Sounds like he was stupid but also clever. He knew exactly who to target and where. (I may know a little more detail than you)
I think the key is unity amongst providers. Just this week a fellow wanted to see me and asked a local provider to give him a reference and she could not extend the courtesy. WTF? The kicker is I am not interested in seeing 'her' client-he is not my type so I brushed him off. But when someone would like me to provide a reference so they can see her, no problem-it will be in her email within 5 minutes of his request. While this proves my personal opinion of this lady is correct, her behavior is unacceptable, particularly with the recent events.
So instead of lecturing, I think it would be more helpful to focus on how the members of our community should be helping one another. Guys-you shouldn't be seeing a lady you feel cannot be trusted with your information. Ladies, help one another-nobody owns a client.
Kate
Your comment about provider unity really struck a cord with me. The unity seems to be....lacking. Understandably, most women are providers because of the remuneration, which makes it competitive, but I don't understand the competitiveness as this is a market that you can do well in, REGARDLESS of how many other women there are in it. Why is it so hard for us to care about each others' safety and provide a reference? I just don't get it. 
Providers have no reason to not be reference friendly, we do not provide exactly the same service, we are different ppl with different assets/skills/persona and etc....
No one owns no client, clients come and go!
xo
Lauren
.. these women did screen and received one piece of verifiable information but did not gather other pieces of personal information nor references. So... I guess... ladies don't be afraid to gather ALL the required information and PLEASE continue to rely on your fellow trusted providers for references.
It appears that this criminal in NOT a hobbyist but rather a young, single man who chooses to use the hobby as a venue for his crimes.
I agree with both of you on many points. The biggest way to stay safe is to thoroughly screen, ask for full names, employment info, etc, and look these potential clients up. If something doesn't match up then just don't see them. I agree that with everyone trying to undercut eachother's rates that it can foster a climate that we are just hungry for the money, any money. While it is nice to offer specials, this isn't the time to do it. Stick to your regular rates as it can weed out potential problems.
We don't know where this guy is or where he may strike next. There are many internet resources to help us verify a person's identity. We should also always be checking in with a friend or someone who knows where we are and who we are with at all times. Safety is so very important and careful screening should always be done. I would rather say no to the dough than end up in a bad situation.
Please be safe, and guys please be understanding of the screening process, it really is meant to protect everyone involved.
Xoxo,
Savanah
If the screening they got was truly verifiable, there would be an APB out for a guy with a name and address right now - we'd all be looking for John Smith of 222 Washington Street... We'd have a name, an address, where he worked, how old he was, his ethnicity, the mole pattern on his back, whether he preferred pancakes or waffles... Instead we have an anonymous blonde guy pictured on a still from a security camera feed. And someone can actually say with a straight face that he was "verifiable"?
The problem is women doing half-ass "screening" that doesn't work (and provider references are putting your life in the hands of another provider's word or memory, some woman you may have never met and who owes you nothing). I've seen I don't know how many ads assuring guys of "light" screening. "Light"??? Why is that apologetic attitude necessary in the first place? You either screen or you don't. You either do it right or you don't do it at all. The methods most providers use are insufficient and accomplish nothing, and complaints from clients about having to do it coupled with desperation or greed to see more clients are part of the problem as well.
And I shouldn't have been surprised, noticed after the fact that the first victim was a provider from Las Vegas - the world's LEAST likely city to screen clients. Every client hops off the plane there thinking everything is "legal" in Las Vegas - it isn't. Every client comes to LV with a "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" fueled mentality and will book with providers who don't screen and quickly pass over providers who do, so to survive financially there the providers throw away caution and just wing it by having an open door policy. I'm surprised it took this long for a high profile story showing how that's not such a great policy after all.
I commented to a friend a day ago that after the sensation of what has happened has dissipated, after the investigation has gone quiet or cold that it would be "business as usual" for most providers and clients.
This isn't the first instance of an escort being subject to the violence of a stranger nor will it be the last. Yet many of us operate without the healthy dose of fear that would cause us to give pause before meeting a client or provider or reconsider our actions and behavior.
I agree that it is inefficient to reduce police activity/stings & incidents to avoidance of towns or specific properties-
But I also think that commenting on screening is ultimately as valuable as the aforementioned.
As a provider I approach the business with a few basic concepts which reflect my experience and understanding:
Screening and verification processes are not a panacea.
Screening and verification processes do not guarantee the safety of either party.
Screening and verification processes do not eliminate the danger of arrest or personal harm.
My questions to you are:
1. Do you realize that all "verifiable" information can and is forged on a daily basis?
There is a non-client who has been attempting to breach my screening process for several months now with MULTIPLE verifiable identities (completely verifiable: personal addresses, corporate email addresses, business phone numbers etc.).
The only thing that has prevented me from meeting him is the fact that his obsessive tendencies give him away and his patterns/IP addresses have ultimately revealed him.
With the advent of services that forge telephone numbers and online tutorials that demonstrate how one can create a virtual identity in less than thirty minutes, I think that it is terribly unrealistic and naive to suggest that "verifiable information" can prevent situations like these.
Verifiable information in this age?
There is no such thing. No provider, no matter who she is or what methods she employs is 100% certain that the person arriving at her door is actually the owner of the identity provided.
2. At what point do you factor in client needs for relative privacy?
We can all agree that the dangers that providers face are grave but to minimize the dangers that clients face is unrealistic.
As someone who has been compromised by this business and "lost it all" after having my family targeted I identify and empathize with client needs.
I hope that you do not dismiss this question with the "death v. social embarrassment" argument because I think that is overly simplistic and doesn't address the driving force of the business: client needs.
Thank you in advance for reading & your thoughts.
But as you say you finally figured out when someone was trying to forge their info by checking IP addresses or something else, rather than just take what they were saying at face value. ALWAYS ALWAYS take the extra step. Someone says they have a company website? LOOK AT IT!!! How many times have people sent a placeholder site trying to pretend with the email address it was for a real site? Look at the internet archives for it. Look at the company directory and how long they've been around. Treat it like it's serious, because meeting with clients is serious. You could lose your life in ways that don't involve murder but do involve something haunting you and limiting you for the rest of your life. All these stories about how the murdered girl could have been something - if this guy was slipping right through her door, how much longer before LE showed up, and then her dreams of modeling would have been right down the toilet, anyway?
As far as someone pretending to be someone else, true, you can have someone use someone else's work info to get in touch with you, but if they sit at someone's desk and answer their extension or use someone else's real email (not forged, because a smart provider is going to look to see if it's forged, not assume it isn't), then finding the person who committed a crime against a provider after the fact still isn't going to be difficult - it will be the BUDDY of the guy whose screening info was used. This guy obviously didn't do that because again they're running a pic of an anonymous blonde guy on the news. If Joe uses Bob's work info to schedule with Shelly and then Joe kills Shelly, it's going to be simple enough to find out Joe's name and put it on the news - just ask Bob!
No real client is going to stick their neck out and let their "bro" use their real identifying info to get in touch with a provider and then be responsible for anything negative that happens. It is pretty common, however, for a client to say that they're someone who's a regular on a message board or an employee somewhere "but call me on my cell, as I'm not in the office" or "well, I can't get PM's there because I haven't reviewed in a while" - oh well, too bad. I have the ability to do something a lot of providers are highly allergic to - turn DOWN appointments. If you're not IN the office when I call, as far as I'm concerned, you're not that guy. If you're not RECEIVING the email at the work address that I can see from looking at the web (yes, I Google it too) is your real address, then you're not that guy. You're just a guy saying you're that guy.
Most providers, my guess starting with providers seeing clients at nearly 1 AM, aren't being scrupulous about completing the circuit or carefully scrutinizing the details. These guys just tell them something and they go "oh okay" to make scheduling quick and easy. Quick and easy never pays. Clients who schedule in the middle of the night are young, reckless, and not good reliable mature respectful clients to begin with. I guess some touring women think that's fine since they're only in town for a little while, but it's possible to tour and see the same people over and over again - that is if you're looking at the long range benefits and not just living from one moment to the next. The women who are up all night scheduling with young, careless last minute impulse shoppers are themselves most likely a bit lax following through with safety procedures. So these news stories aren't exactly surprising.
Saying you screen is one thing. Taking it seriously is another. That's true about everything in life. There are always a lot of folks doing something half heartedly and a few people doing it but doing it right.
I agree with 100 percent of what you said and you phrased it the best way possible. Is it okay if I quote you on my blog?
Thanks
Save the drama! Seriously! Call it what you want. I call it a basic description of the punk!
Was he not supposed to say the man was probably a white frat boy? Did that offend you? If so, you seriously need to find a life! There is a girl or "ho" as you would call it dead because of this sick prick and you are finding a way to get angry over the way another individual has described the murderer!??
Nice name by the way! Loadedgun. Was it u? I wouldnt see you with that name if TER paid me to do so!
I'm not sure why you think a very, very long diatribe that basically amounts to shouting "Screen your clients!" over and over again is going to help anybody.
No provider can screen with 100% safety. There are holes in every process, fake IDs, ways to falsify employment, stolen identities, etc. Read a newspaper and look at the people who conned their way onto school boards, companies, and even NASA by falsifying credentials. The reality is that escorts are only capable of so much, and clients are willing to reveal only so much---and between those two poles, you just can't establish a realistic middle ground that will prevent things like this. (That's the one thing all crimes have in common: If somebody wants badly enough to commit it, you can't stop him.)
Plenty of valid arguments exist against screening, but the most relevant is the one that you're running smack into: It gives providers a false sense of security.
In this day and age that there are still women who wait till the wolf is THROUGH THE DOOR to figure out whether they're "ok" or not... That "IDs" are still part of a screening discussion... Unreal.
LE and psychos are LICENSED TO DRIVE, people! That doesn't mean they're not LE and psychos!
You do not give your location to someone UNTIL they are screened. Period. Screening does NOT take place on site! By then it is TOO LATE to do anything.
Anybody ever seen Lost Boys? You only get bit by the vampire when you INVITE HIM IN!!
Smart women already screen and screen thoroughly. The not-so-smart ones don't. Sadly, the events of the past few days will probably not change this dramatically.
There are two types of women who get involved in this business-those who do it to earn a living and those who do it out of desperation. Unfortunately the desperate ones don't have the patience to do what needs to be done when it comes to screening.
One thing I do know is that no one has all the answers. A little patience would be a good thing on the board right about now...
Lady's please stick together and only use referances from well known providers because if they felt safe you will too! as for us guys we need to realise that the girls are a little shaken up right now and provide them with as much info to make them feel comfortable. I may be speaking for myself but I would be scared shitless right now and might even go on a vacation until this guy is caught.
This is a very scary and real issue. I don't think for a second that she was being careless or clueless. She may or may not have screen the guy but once you are in the room with him and his gun, whatever you've written about him is out of the window with your life.
I don't know about all of your checking system but what if you get a phone call from a client who doesn't have other provider reference but have his work number and full name? You write down those info and think you are safe but... he can easily take that away and walk out from you as long as he knows his information didn't leave her room.
On that note, maybe this wasn't his first visit to her... maybe he visited her once to know if she travels alone, where she keeps her information...
Possibilities are endless and we can only speculate what really happened before she was killed but we can all learn from this sad incident.
Ladies, if you can, please have check in partner at all time. Maybe even e-mail your clients appt list to yourself or your best friend so that someone can always find out who you were seeing.
Let's all be safe and pray that he'll get caught very soon.
I for one appreciate you being discreet with my information so as to not get into the wrong hands should something go wrong but please not until after the date play safe!
Of course not, the clients list is deleted at the end of my trips even before I leave the city. People who would like to see me again when I come back are asked to e-mail separate message. Discretion is still important for both parties but nothing worth getting killed over it.