Frank Bassell

The main strategy police use to control street prostitution is enforcing laws prohibiting soliciting, patronizing, and loitering for the purposes of prostitution. Street prostitutes can be valuable informants to police about other crimes, and the threat of enforcement gives the police leverage for information. In some jurisdictions, controlling street prostitution is left to the vice squad. Limiting patrol officers' involvement is intended to reduce corruption, but it can give the public the impression that only corrupt officers would ignore the problem. Historically, the police have arrested far more prostitutes than clients, although some police agencies have shifted toward a more balanced enforcement strategy, targeting clients as well as prostitutes. To promote a consistent response and improve the chances for successful prosecutions, police agencies should prepare written guidelines to govern how and under what circumstances they will enforce prostitution laws.

Enforcement strategies are expensive; each arrest costs thousands of dollars to process. By themselves, they are ineffective at either controlling street prostitution or protecting prostitutes from harm. Increased police enforcement temporarily reduces the number of prostitutes on the street, but they usually reappear in new areas. This may actually increase street prostitution in the long term by creating new opportunities for prostitutes and potential clients to meet. While the severity of the penalties against prostitutes does appear to affect the volume of prostitution, modest fines against prostitutes may actually force them to commit more prostitution to pay the fines. Prostitutes who are prosecuted are usually convicted, but many of them fail to show up for court hearings. Most prostitutes consider the costs of being arrested a business expense and an inconvenience, but not a significant deterrent.

Community groups have organized to expose prostitution clients' identitiesto either the general public or the clients' families or employers. This can be done by photographing or videotaping clients, calling clients' families or employers, writing down license plate numbers of vehicles seen driving around prostitution strips, mailing warning letters or postcards to registered vehicle owners, or posting clients' names or photographs on street posts, billboards, telephone hotline fliers, and Internet sites. Some police agencies have sent official letters or postcards warning prostitution clients about the legal and health consequences of patronizing prostitutes. In some instances, they send these warnings only to those arrested for soliciting prostitutes; in other instances, they send them to the registered owners of suspicious vehicles seen driving through street prostitution areas. In some areas, police use closed-circuit TV cameras to discourage potential clients from hanging around.

Some police agencies and local governments have publicized the names and photographs of clients who are either arrested for and/or convicted of prostitution-related offenses. The names and photographs may appear on television, in newspapers or on Internet websites. Many media outlets, however, refuse to participate, deeming it unnewsworthy and not wanting to appear to be an agent of the government. Some local governments have purchased advertising space to publish the information. There should be safeguards so that innocent persons are not unfairly accused or implicated in illegal activity.

Many jurisdictions have enacted laws that prohibit conduct associated with prostitution and the solicitation thereof, such as loitering for the purposes of prostitution, loitering in search of a prostitute, and curb-crawling. These laws are designed to allow the police to charge prostitutes and clients without having to prove there was a proposed or actual exchange of money for sex. Charges of loitering for the purposes of prostitution are difficult to prove in some jurisdictions, so even if arrest rates are high, prosecutions may not be.