Officer Nelson

Street prostitutes and clients sometimes use abandoned buildings for sexual transactions. If demolishing or rehabilitating the buildings is not feasible, securing them can help reduce street prostitution and other offenses in the area.

Traffic flow and patterns influence potential clients' perceptions about their chances of negotiating a transaction and their risks of getting caught. Traffic-related factors are especially significant where sex acts take place in vehicles. Many clients stop to solicit prostitutes while on their way to somewhere else–commonly to home or from work. Responses that make it more difficult or risky for clients to negotiate a transaction will either discourage them from soliciting street prostitutes or encourage them to seek prostitutes in indoor venues.

Under some circumstances, the traffic changes may lock the problem into an area rather than force it out. You should also be careful that any traffic changes do not cause undue harm to legitimate commerce in the area.

Improved lighting reduces the attractiveness of certain areas for street prostitution because it reduces the level of privacy prostitutes and clients seek to negotiate and complete their transactions. Motion-sensitive lighting is useful for secluded areas like alleys and doorways.