American puritanism

[fflowley]

Just watched a really irritating episode of Cops, a show I usually enjoy.

They had at least 6 cops, PLUS a female undercover officer, out working a prostitution sting. I think they wasted a whole day pulling guys over in their cars, basically embarassing the shit out of them, and writing summonses. What an utter and complete waste of time.

There are plenty of places that have real crime problems. Why are so many man-hours wasted on such a petty issue?

As an aside there was one hilarious episode. They pulled this one dude out of his car....he was sweating. At first he denied doing anything wrong, but then asked what would happen if he told the truth and came clean. They asked why and he said he had just dropped the old lady off at Wal Mart and was supposed to be back over there to pick her up.........LOL they wrote him a ticket and released him.

Flooey
!

 

[papasmerf]

Like it or not LE only enforces the laws. The neither write them nor determine the passage of laws.

 

[thecoolguyms72]

"I can understand though that street prostitution is a problem for residents of an area where this is going on.
Just imagine the increased traffic, the discarded condoms and the kind of activity going on outside your front door. Not a pretty sight."

Then legalize it. LOL. Because it would be so easy to pass into law, or at least decriminalize it to some degree.

papasmerf: I agree, LE only enforces the law, but they are the equivalent to bureaucracy inside the government. They could somewhat steer the focus of the police efforts to where it is needed most, but what would you choose? Would you rather bug johns picking up fake hookers, or have a shoot out with drug dealers? I'm sure I know what most of us would choose.

 

[thecoolguyms72]

Well, the thought would be to legalize it, regulate it to some degree, and allow the pimps to put real businesses together, rather than working on the street. It wouldn't totally eliminate it, but I think it would be a start. But I'm not a law enforcement officer, nor am I a pimp, so I am just hazarding a guess on this. And an opinion.

 

[Lil'Miss]

As a young girl living in LA, I am very glad that this enforcement goes on. If any of you saw the scary pimps that I have to walk past on the way to the corner store, you would be too. I'm sure that none of you would want your SO's put into that kind of situation. It's not a matter of what should or shouldn't be legal, it's a matter of keeping people safe.

Miss

 

[train]

. If any of you saw the scary pimps ...... It's not a matter of what should or shouldn't be legal, it's a matter of keeping people safe.

Miss

Have a look at the Amsterdam or Sydney approach to prostitution . By legalizing it and exercising some small measure of control they have effectively eliminated the ' scary pimps ' . In Amsterdam they have also taken it off the streets and out of the neighbourhoods where it is not welcome . In the glossy magazine provided by the Amsterdam airport Sheraton hotel they describe the Red Light district as one of the safest in the city for the tourist .

Unfortunately one has only to look at the silly debate about marijuana to see that North America will never take this approach . By the way ....this is not soley an american thing.....Canadian LE also operates these 'john' stings too .

 

[fflowley]

reply to LilMiss

If you saw this episode, you saw an attractive woman picking up men in a suburb. No pimps in sight. I've never seen the cops out stinging pimps. All I saw was a bunch of 40 and 50 year old men being taken advantage of.


Flooey!

 

[onthebottom]

I agree with Train

Having lived in Sydney, the "scary" part of the trade is completely gone - even the street scene is safe. LE is everywhere and aid workers serve coffee to all on cold evening but there is no criminal element. What a relief.

I think the US is way too Puritan in what it chooses to focus on, our approach of prohibition of drugs and prostitution vs management is about as effective as it was with Alcohol. Whatta gonna do.

OTB

 

[DenWa]

I'm curious how many men who hate the LE stings on guys picking up call girls actually involve themselves in the struggling movement to legalize and regulate the industry? We criticize the cops, but it's not the job of the police department to change laws. And we always gripe about the supposed lack of attention serious crime gets, as if all of the police resources go to busting prostitutes. That's just silly. The police have their hands full. In Hollywood, I rarely hear about incall and outcall escorts getting busted. It certainly happens, but usually when they are sloppy, or wreckless, or get so big and so well-known that they have to be confronted. Remember, our legal system is a lot different than yours. It's an illicit industry here in the States, and I would venture to speculate less than 5% of pimps, agency owners, and escorts pay taxes on their money (this is based on the people I personally have known). If you become too visible, you're gonna get snagged. As for the street action, I say good riddance. Rarely do you see clean attractive well mannered women walking casually up to cars in a nice suburban setting. Come to my neighborhood, where the women barely look human anymore, and the Hollywood police department has to keep the pimps from trying to snatch regular women off the street when they're simply walking to the grocery store. This is at 3pm folks, not in the middle of the night. If Lil'Miss and I are dressed up to go out and we walk to the corner store, pimps will approach and actually try to aggressively hustle her into coming with them. It's really fucked up and scary.

Legalizing and Regulating would be great, and would help a lot. Although a lot of these people wouldn't like the idea of suddenly having Uncle Sam take a cut, or to even know who they are for that matter. But this is a legislative matter, not a matter for the police. You say they need to spend their time stopping serious crime. Well, the people who hustle these girls on the streets of Hollywood are the same people who are robbing, stealing, and killing. To me, that's serious crime.

Now before you respond - I realize the episode of cops was a slightly different setting, but the situation you saw was certainly not the norm.

 

[train]

Perhaps they ( the cops ) could be a little more creative and 'sting' the pimps ? The street scene is a very unappealing side of this industry though .

 

[HaywoodJabloemy]

I'll say one good thing for the Americans on this subject - at least they've taken a definite position and stuck to it, unlike Canadians. The situation in Canada has become comically (and tragically) hypocritical and dishonest with the selective enforcement and non-enforcement of the laws.
http://www.missingpeople.net/how_cities_'license'_off-street_hookers-june_16,_2002.htm

It's created an ambiguous set-up that lets LE do anything they want. Like I've mentioned in other threads, the Australians had similar systems until they realized how corrupt their police had become.