Prostitution arrests
FONDL
In case any of you haven't seen this:
12 arrested for prostitution ads on Web
Posted 9/9/2006 7:33 AM ET E-mail
LEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Police in Bucks County have charged 12 women after an investigation into prostitutes who allegedly have been advertising on the website Craigslist.
After police received a tip in August about alleged prostitutes advertising on the site, investigators called cellphone numbers in local listings that advertised "GFEs" — girlfriend experiences — asking for payment in "ro$e$" or "125 donations."
The undercover investigators agreed to meet the women at motels, and almost all 12 were arrested within two minutes, he said.
Several of the women who were arrested had brought along their boyfriends, and five men were arrested on drug charges, police said.
Similar sting operations have led to prostitution charges against women in states including Maryland, New York, Oregon and New Hampshire.
Craigslist spokeswoman Sue MacTavish Best said the site cooperates with law enforcement and has a flagging system that allows users to bring prohibited content to the company's attention so it can be removed.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Levittown PA is a suburb just north of Philadelphia. There are lots of strip clubs in the area.
12 arrested for prostitution ads on Web
Posted 9/9/2006 7:33 AM ET E-mail
LEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Police in Bucks County have charged 12 women after an investigation into prostitutes who allegedly have been advertising on the website Craigslist.
After police received a tip in August about alleged prostitutes advertising on the site, investigators called cellphone numbers in local listings that advertised "GFEs" — girlfriend experiences — asking for payment in "ro$e$" or "125 donations."
The undercover investigators agreed to meet the women at motels, and almost all 12 were arrested within two minutes, he said.
Several of the women who were arrested had brought along their boyfriends, and five men were arrested on drug charges, police said.
Similar sting operations have led to prostitution charges against women in states including Maryland, New York, Oregon and New Hampshire.
Craigslist spokeswoman Sue MacTavish Best said the site cooperates with law enforcement and has a flagging system that allows users to bring prohibited content to the company's attention so it can be removed.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Levittown PA is a suburb just north of Philadelphia. There are lots of strip clubs in the area.
18 comments
I don't think that prostitution will ever be formally legalized in any parts of the US other than where it is now. But I do think that enforcement efforts are declining in many areas and will continue to do so. Most such efforts aren't very cost effective and the cops have more important things to worry about. Which is why prostitutes are able to advertise so openly in most metropolitan areas.
I wonder if the growth in prostitution helps or hurts strip clubs? Or maybe has no effect.
And a review of their current listings reveals they are not opposed to such listings. Anyone can post anything they want on craigslist, but others can flag it and ask that it be removed.
Except in Nevada, where legal prostitutes have a cost that is roughly higher, and much higher in hassle, than similar illegal internet escorts in exactly the same location.
Maybe it's just the USA, where legalization leads to higher rather than lower expense. This would seem to suggest that the Republican de-regulation small-givernment argument actually DOES make sense ...
BG, I think legalization would lower costs because it would lower the girls' costs of doing business and would probably also increase supply more than it would increase demand.