By Karen Farkas, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Akron, Ohio -- While prostitutes still seek customers from street corners, the city is using technology and other creative means to deter those participating in the world’s oldest profession.
A link on the Akron Police Department’s Web site profiles convicted prostitutes and their customers potentially embarrassing the men with unwanted publicity and discouraging others. Officials hope to get courts to set higher bonds and penalties for those arrested and convicted, and they may ask prostitutes to speak to those convicted of soliciting sort of a “scared straight” program.
“The traditional way of going after prostitutes was not working,” said Lt. James Phister, commander of the Police Department’s vice unit. “We had to think out of the box because this is a supply-and-demand business. If you get rid of the supply, you get rid of the demand.”
Although his unit makes as many as 500 arrests a year for soliciting and prostitution, prostitutes rarely left the streets after they were cited because there was no room at the Summit County Jail to hold them until an appearance in Akron Municipal Court the next day. It wasn’t unusual for women to have nine or 10 active summonses, he said, and one had 92 bench warrants.
But in recent months, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office has tried to keep some jail beds open, he said. That occurred after a citywide task force was formed in March to find new methods to deter prostitution. Members include police, Municipal Court judges, city officials and the Sheriff’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office recently eliminated the diversion option for first-time offenders charged with soliciting, said City Prosecutor Doug Powley.
“We are trying to deter activity in the neighborhoods and the large impact on the people that live in the areas,” he said. Under the court’s diversion program, charges against first-time offenders are dismissed and their record is sealed after they attend classes.
Phister said eliminating diversion would help the Police Department’s “Operation John-B-Gone” list on its Web site.
The online program, which targets convicted prostitutes and their customers, began early this year and includes the person’s photograph, name, age, address and conviction. But until recently, there were few listings of men, because of the diversion program. And there were fewer arrests because it wasn’t worth the effort to set up decoy operations, Phister said. “Now we have some teeth to charge a guy with soliciting,” he said.
Last week’s listing on the Web site, accessed through the city’s Web site, www.ci.akron.oh.us, included three men, ages 31, 36 and 73, from Akron and Tallmadge. The 73-year-old, who was convicted of loitering in February, had no comment. Eleven women were listed on the prostitution portion of the site.
A few cities, including Detroit and Denver, have used Web site listings or run photographs on television. The Police Department in Lakeland, Fla., ran listings of prostitutes and johns for a couple of years but discontinued the listings about a year ago, said Jack Gillen, spokesman for the department. He said the site was not effective. Officials thought it would embarrass people who were convicted, but it didn’t.
“One guy had a local restaurant, and I don’t think it fazed him at all,” he said.