Be thankfull and count your blesssings up in the GWN not having to deal with this backwards puritanical thinking!....
Crackdown on prostitution
Major sting operation nets 42 arrests in two weeks.
By T.J. Pignataro NEWS STAFF REPORTER October 31, 2010, 7:27 AM
One by one, they marched into the lobby of a downtown hotel -- trailing clouds of perfume, lured by the smell of money.
Seven women from Buffalo and the suburbs, ranging in age from 24 to 44.
All willing to trade an hour or less of sex for a stack of tens and twenties.
One was "thick in all the right places," as her Internet ad touted. The ad didn't mention that was because she was five months pregnant.
Another in her mid-20s had already been in a Mississippi jail for selling sex. She proclaimed herself to be on a "state-by-state" prostitution tour.
A third woman, a 44-year-old former Erie County employee now unemployed, arrived clad in a tight magenta dress and bright makeup. She lugged with her a duffel bag full of adult toys.
There was just one problem for the women.
Upon agreeing to provide sex for money to a man in a guest room inside the hotel, each was arrested by Buffalo police.
In all, 42 arrests were made during a two-week local vice sting that wrapped up late last week. That accounts for half of the total vice arrests in Buffalo this year and twice as many as in all of 2009.
Police targeted prostitutes and johns, both on the streets and at city and suburban hotels.
The first night of the sting occurred at a downtown Buffalo hotel and prevented seven online prostitutes from selling themselves -- if only for a night.
For the prostitutes, it was a wake-up call. Perhaps.
The pregnant 30-year-old Brunswick Boulevard woman jumped up, startled, as police forced their way into a room she shared with an undercover detective, moments after she agreed to perform a sex act for $100. When her nerves settled, she had a question for police.
A need for money
"You probably don't believe me -- this is my first time -- what happens now?" she asked solemnly.
After being apprised of the booking and arraignment process, the jobless woman, who says she can't locate her baby's father, explained that she felt forced into prostitution.
"I'm doing it to support myself," she said.
At least two others arrested that night had the same story -- no jobs and a need for money.
"I need to pay my bills, I have to take care of my kids," said a 36-year-old Bridgeman Street woman arrested for agreeing to perform a sex act for $170.
Added a South Division Street woman who was arrested moments later and identified herself as a student at Buffalo State College: "I have to take care of my kids."
What would her kids would think of her making money by selling sex?
"Devastated," she responded.
Although tragic stories abound, police make no apologies for taking a tough stance on vice crime in Buffalo.
"We're responding to complaints," said Lt. Paul Delano of the Buffalo Police narcotics and vice unit. "It's a quality-of-life issue, and it needs to be addressed."
And, police say, an overwhelming number of the women they see selling their bodies are after one thing -- drug money.
"A lot of them are heroin addicts," Delano said. "We had an 18- or 19-year-old -- and, she looked like she was 30 -- from the suburbs hooked on heroin. She's just turning tricks for her next hit."
The women netted in the first day of the undercover sting made themselves available in less than 30 minutes. Those who advertise online often command higher fees than those walking the streets -- $100 to $400 per hour -- and sell themselves by blocks of time rather than by sex acts a la carte.
"They're all independent contractors," said one vice detective who asked that his identity be protected. "And, with these Web sites and the Internet, they're everywhere."
They post seductive pictures (police point out many of the photos are of other women entirely) with their online ads, but they're a far cry from the elite call girls former Gov. Eliot Spitzer summoned to thousand-dollar trysts.
False advertising
What you see in online advertising is almost always what you don't get, police say. As evidenced by the sting, a "slender 100-pound frame with 34D bust" transforms somewhere between the Internet and hotel into reality.
The reality is 250-plus, rugged-looking pounds.
"There's nothing exotic about these women," said a ranking officer who didn't want to be named. "The reality does not live up to the fantasy."
Police used a variety of strategies in targeting prostitution in this sting. Besides setting up stings at a downtown hotel, as well as one in Cheektowaga, they also:
* Used undercover police detectives both during the day and at night to solicit street-walking prostitutes on the city's West and East sides;
* Rented a limousine that was occupied by several undercover detectives posing as a guests at a bachelor party who arranged to pick up three online prostitutes at a location on the city's East Side. Once an explicit offer of sex for money was made, the women were arrested;
* Placed undercover decoys -- female Buffalo Police detectives and an Erie County sheriff's deputy -- on the street to be solicited by johns who were then apprehended on charges of "patronizing a prostitute."
Two of the 10 johns who were arrested hailed from the suburbs -- one from Cheektowaga and one from East Aurora, according to Daniel J. Derenda, Buffalo police commissioner.
"They come [into the city] and make a playground for their illegal activity," Derenda said.
The eight other johns were from various Buffalo neighborhoods, including Riverside, South Buffalo, Kaisertown and the East and West sides.
Derenda said Buffalo police are eyeing plans to adopt a policy used by Chicago police by publishing the names and photos of area johns on the police department Web site.
"We're taking a strong stance on it," said Derenda.
Arrest figures bear out the commissioner's statements. In all, 84 vice arrests have been made in 2010 -- 72 women and 12 men -- as compared to just 21 in all of 2009. Then, 19 women and 2 men were arrested on prostitution-related charges.
Top police brass admit stings such as the one this month are only effective when executed sporadically -- "every couple of years," they said -- because the prostitutes get wise to police tactics.
Necessary expense
For instance, police might have made even more arrests this month but several women, upon learning the location where the undercover officer planned to take them to consummate the exchange of sex for money, demanded to be let out of the car.
"You're a cop," they'd say, according to detectives.
"You've got to change your tactics up quite a bit from one time to the next," Delano said. "They definitely coordinate and talk to one another."
Still, several of the women arrested in the recent sting have multiple arrests or convictions for prostitution in their pasts.
So, does a misdemeanor offense, which for many doesn't seem to result in any lessons learned, justify all of the police manpower and logistics?
Absolutely, police say.
"It's a necessary expense," Delano said. "It boils down to quality of life and the quality of the neighborhood. This sort of activity brings down the neighborhood."
Added Derenda: "It leads to other crimes -- drugs, robberies. There are a lot of things that come with it. And it will not be tolerated."
tpignataro@buffnews.com
Crackdown on prostitution
Major sting operation nets 42 arrests in two weeks.
By T.J. Pignataro NEWS STAFF REPORTER October 31, 2010, 7:27 AM
One by one, they marched into the lobby of a downtown hotel -- trailing clouds of perfume, lured by the smell of money.
Seven women from Buffalo and the suburbs, ranging in age from 24 to 44.
All willing to trade an hour or less of sex for a stack of tens and twenties.
One was "thick in all the right places," as her Internet ad touted. The ad didn't mention that was because she was five months pregnant.
Another in her mid-20s had already been in a Mississippi jail for selling sex. She proclaimed herself to be on a "state-by-state" prostitution tour.
A third woman, a 44-year-old former Erie County employee now unemployed, arrived clad in a tight magenta dress and bright makeup. She lugged with her a duffel bag full of adult toys.
There was just one problem for the women.
Upon agreeing to provide sex for money to a man in a guest room inside the hotel, each was arrested by Buffalo police.
In all, 42 arrests were made during a two-week local vice sting that wrapped up late last week. That accounts for half of the total vice arrests in Buffalo this year and twice as many as in all of 2009.
Police targeted prostitutes and johns, both on the streets and at city and suburban hotels.
The first night of the sting occurred at a downtown Buffalo hotel and prevented seven online prostitutes from selling themselves -- if only for a night.
For the prostitutes, it was a wake-up call. Perhaps.
The pregnant 30-year-old Brunswick Boulevard woman jumped up, startled, as police forced their way into a room she shared with an undercover detective, moments after she agreed to perform a sex act for $100. When her nerves settled, she had a question for police.
A need for money
"You probably don't believe me -- this is my first time -- what happens now?" she asked solemnly.
After being apprised of the booking and arraignment process, the jobless woman, who says she can't locate her baby's father, explained that she felt forced into prostitution.
"I'm doing it to support myself," she said.
At least two others arrested that night had the same story -- no jobs and a need for money.
"I need to pay my bills, I have to take care of my kids," said a 36-year-old Bridgeman Street woman arrested for agreeing to perform a sex act for $170.
Added a South Division Street woman who was arrested moments later and identified herself as a student at Buffalo State College: "I have to take care of my kids."
What would her kids would think of her making money by selling sex?
"Devastated," she responded.
Although tragic stories abound, police make no apologies for taking a tough stance on vice crime in Buffalo.
"We're responding to complaints," said Lt. Paul Delano of the Buffalo Police narcotics and vice unit. "It's a quality-of-life issue, and it needs to be addressed."
And, police say, an overwhelming number of the women they see selling their bodies are after one thing -- drug money.
"A lot of them are heroin addicts," Delano said. "We had an 18- or 19-year-old -- and, she looked like she was 30 -- from the suburbs hooked on heroin. She's just turning tricks for her next hit."
The women netted in the first day of the undercover sting made themselves available in less than 30 minutes. Those who advertise online often command higher fees than those walking the streets -- $100 to $400 per hour -- and sell themselves by blocks of time rather than by sex acts a la carte.
"They're all independent contractors," said one vice detective who asked that his identity be protected. "And, with these Web sites and the Internet, they're everywhere."
They post seductive pictures (police point out many of the photos are of other women entirely) with their online ads, but they're a far cry from the elite call girls former Gov. Eliot Spitzer summoned to thousand-dollar trysts.
False advertising
What you see in online advertising is almost always what you don't get, police say. As evidenced by the sting, a "slender 100-pound frame with 34D bust" transforms somewhere between the Internet and hotel into reality.
The reality is 250-plus, rugged-looking pounds.
"There's nothing exotic about these women," said a ranking officer who didn't want to be named. "The reality does not live up to the fantasy."
Police used a variety of strategies in targeting prostitution in this sting. Besides setting up stings at a downtown hotel, as well as one in Cheektowaga, they also:
* Used undercover police detectives both during the day and at night to solicit street-walking prostitutes on the city's West and East sides;
* Rented a limousine that was occupied by several undercover detectives posing as a guests at a bachelor party who arranged to pick up three online prostitutes at a location on the city's East Side. Once an explicit offer of sex for money was made, the women were arrested;
* Placed undercover decoys -- female Buffalo Police detectives and an Erie County sheriff's deputy -- on the street to be solicited by johns who were then apprehended on charges of "patronizing a prostitute."
Two of the 10 johns who were arrested hailed from the suburbs -- one from Cheektowaga and one from East Aurora, according to Daniel J. Derenda, Buffalo police commissioner.
"They come [into the city] and make a playground for their illegal activity," Derenda said.
The eight other johns were from various Buffalo neighborhoods, including Riverside, South Buffalo, Kaisertown and the East and West sides.
Derenda said Buffalo police are eyeing plans to adopt a policy used by Chicago police by publishing the names and photos of area johns on the police department Web site.
"We're taking a strong stance on it," said Derenda.
Arrest figures bear out the commissioner's statements. In all, 84 vice arrests have been made in 2010 -- 72 women and 12 men -- as compared to just 21 in all of 2009. Then, 19 women and 2 men were arrested on prostitution-related charges.
Top police brass admit stings such as the one this month are only effective when executed sporadically -- "every couple of years," they said -- because the prostitutes get wise to police tactics.
Necessary expense
For instance, police might have made even more arrests this month but several women, upon learning the location where the undercover officer planned to take them to consummate the exchange of sex for money, demanded to be let out of the car.
"You're a cop," they'd say, according to detectives.
"You've got to change your tactics up quite a bit from one time to the next," Delano said. "They definitely coordinate and talk to one another."
Still, several of the women arrested in the recent sting have multiple arrests or convictions for prostitution in their pasts.
So, does a misdemeanor offense, which for many doesn't seem to result in any lessons learned, justify all of the police manpower and logistics?
Absolutely, police say.
"It's a necessary expense," Delano said. "It boils down to quality of life and the quality of the neighborhood. This sort of activity brings down the neighborhood."
Added Derenda: "It leads to other crimes -- drugs, robberies. There are a lot of things that come with it. And it will not be tolerated."
tpignataro@buffnews.com
