Officer Jordan

Whether changes in enforcement levels against indoor prostitution venues (e.g., massage parlors, call girls, bar girls, and escort services) will affect street prostitution depends on how easily prostitutes can move back and forth between the streets and indoors. The conventional wisdom is that there is little movement between them. But, within limits, prostitutes do have some mobility. The laws related to indoor prostitution are likely to affect the degree of mobility (it is legal in the United Kingdom, and illegal in the United States). Prostitutes who work indoors seem able to work on the streets when they have to more easily than street prostitutes can move indoors. Relaxing the regulation of indoor prostitution may be perceived as condoning prostitution.

When police have been placed under intense pressure to control street prostitution, yet have lacked adequate legal alternatives for doing so, some have turned to harassing and intimidating prostitutes, in some instances forcing them to relocate to another jurisdiction. There is no evidence that this is at all effective, and it undermines police integrity.

Many property owners unwittingly support street prostitution because they do not appreciate how their business practices enable it to flourish. You can remind them of their legal obligations and provide them and their employees with specific training to help them prevent their properties from being used for prostitution.