Boys in Blue Busy

Ottawa police Sgt. Kal Ghadban was surprised when he got to work at 7 a.m. yesterday and 10 undercover officers were there finishing Monday night's paperwork.

"I said, 'OK, what's going on here?' -- these guys are normally done by 3 or 4 a.m."

What was going on was the largest sweep of street level hookers in a long time.

ROUND UP

Twenty women -- aged 18-47 -- were picked up for trying to sell their booty around town Monday night.

Ten undercover male officers posing as johns arrested the women in Hintonburg, Centretown, the Byward Market and Vanier.

"I haven't seen this number rounded up in one evening in quite some time," Ghadban said.

"It's a game of cat-and-mouse and it's hit-and-miss."

Ottawa police organized the "impromptu" sweep after getting complaints from neighbours.

"There has been a visible increase in street-level prostitution," Ghadban said.

"Obviously this is a very high priority for us because of the spinoff crimes from it."

Half of the women arrested have been arrested before and were held on bail. The others were released with curfew and boundary conditions. Getting busted often means a drying-out period for drug-addicted prostitutes.

"Obviously, they're quite upset. They know when they go to jail it's going to be a very difficult ride for them," Ghadban said.

"A lot of them will say, 'that's not fair, you tricked (me,)' " he said, adding that many will complain the arresting officer was wearing a "disguise."

Most just put up their hands and say, 'OK, you got me,' " he said.

It's easy to spot them, Ghadban explained, showing the body language of prostitutes -- loitering, trying to attract attention, stepping into traffic or acting like they're hitchhiking.

65 CHARGES

Cops are hoping curfews will keep hookers off the streets, but they know setting boundaries can just push the problem to a different street corner.

"Displacement is an issue we see because curfews don't necessarily solve the problem. A lot of them can be active during the day," he said.

Sixty-five criminal charges were laid against the 20 women arrested Monday night. None of the women qualified for the pre-charge diversion program.

Police have already staged several prostitution sweeps this year.

Police are asking the public to report prostitution activity.

They raided this guys house and found three BB guns.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/08/19/ot-belly-080819.html?ref=rss

Legalization.

Legalization.

Agreed. I've never understood the appeal of the SW variety (not to mention the obvious risks), but really....don't we have much bigger problems for LE to be focussing on?

Legalization would not stop street prostitution (It may actually make it worse).

For those who don't see the difference ... street prostitution is usually driven by substance abuse (often pimps are involved and more often pimps are the ones supplying the drugs). It's full of underage girls, drugs, heath issues and just bad circumstances.

Escorting and street walking are both part of the "sex trade" so they are similar in that sense of the word but the similarities end at that. I am not saying that all escorts are drug free but a person who is being controlled by the drug abuse is not going to use money to pay for ads online or take time to chat in a discussion forum like this.

Yes, They are all part of the "sex trade" but they are NOT the same thing. Street level prostitution should be illegal if you ask me. Legalization is not the answer and it could add to the problem if not done properly. It's easy to say legalize it but it's not easy to legalize it (by any stretch of the imagination) .... each change they make would make someone happy but in turn upset someone else. If they mess with the laws they could do a lot more BAD then GOOD. (and from past experience chances are it would be BAD for all of you guys and the ladies in the business!).

The law has the ability to arrest for street soliciation, pimping, drugs, etc... untill they go out and clean up the streets with the current laws (and leave the ladies alone who are in the sex trade but not working the streets and not drug addicted)... the problem is not enough is being done to get rid of the street level prostitution (Looks like ottawa is changing that finally... bet it's all the bad publicity they got from the media over the last year).

Big problem... the general public thinks a "escort" and a "street hooker" are the same thing. We need to help educate them and make them realzise that just because they so a simular job it's not the same thing (by a long shot).

There were numorus complaints from residents so the cops had to do a sweep. I know I wouldn't want that shit going on in my backyard.

not legalization.... decriminalization. legalization just opens a whole 'nother can o worms.

Again, very easy to say but how does decriminalization help protect the people? Part of the current law protects underage girls (and boys), makes pimping illegal, makes street solicitation and street level prostitution illegal and helps protect women drawn into the business controlled by drug addictions. These are all needed laws.

You may be all for legal street prostitution... until you have chemical drug addicted prostitutes soliciting on the street where you own property and along with them you have all the pimps and drug dealers who are exploiting them in your neighborhood.

The laws are still needed and should protect the people in and out of the business. I strongly disagree that decriminalization is the way to approach this and I am afraid that if they do try to change out laws they will end up making the business more restrictive and grouping escorts and street walkers in the same category even more then they do now.

We already have police forces abusing the current laws. The public solicitation law was intended to battle street prostitution but in some cities (Recently in Winnipeg) they called an escort, asked her to go to the hotels lounge for a drink, laughed with her and made her comfortable enough to quietly whisper something about the fun sex things they could do back in the room and of course this was intended to entrap her into a solicitation criminal charge (Since we do not have entrapment laws to protect the girl from this kind of abuse she was charged).

THIS IS NOT what they law was intended for. It's stuff like this that needs attention. What they need to understand is no mater what they do prostitution will still happen (It's a very needed service), if they make the laws overly restrictive it will only push the already illegal stuff more underground and the currently legal stuff more restrictive (The chance of better rights protection for the legitimate escorts is probably never going to happen in our lifetime but we can only hope someone proves me wrong!)

The more illegal it becomes the more BAD people it will attract.

not legalization.... decriminalization. legalization just opens a whole 'nother can o worms.

A whole can of bureaucrats!

yeah i do not think it is right that there is no intrapement law in canada!escorting is so much different from street walking i mean they r showing of there cooches standing in traffic going up to people and asking them if they want it and most of them r all f23kedup and carrying deseases that they don't even know they have because they r to messed to go to a clinic and check!it is the street aspect that bring le down on escorting because to them it is all the same! " glamourized prostitution" is how i've heard it refered to but it is a whole nother world and class of people! And yet when there having a bachelor party who r they calling but it is okay for them just keep it on the down low.

Again, very easy to say but how does decriminalization help protect the people? Part of the current law protects underage girls (and boys), makes pimping illegal, makes street solicitation and street level prostitution illegal and helps protect women drawn into the business controlled by drug addictions. These are all needed laws.

 

You may be all for legal street prostitution... until you have chemical drug addicted prostitutes soliciting on the street where you own property and along with them you have all the pimps and drug dealers who are exploiting them in your neighborhood.

 

The laws are still needed and should protect the people in and out of the business. I strongly disagree that decriminalization is the way to approach this and I am afraid that if they do try to change out laws they will end up making the business more restrictive and grouping escorts and street walkers in the same category even more then they do now.

 

We already have police forces abusing the current laws. The public solicitation law was intended to battle street prostitution but in some cities (Recently in Winnipeg) they called an escort, asked her to go to the hotels lounge for a drink, laughed with her and made her comfortable enough to quietly whisper something about the fun sex things they could do back in the room and of course this was intended to entrap her into a solicitation criminal charge (Since we do not have entrapment laws to protect the girl from this kind of abuse she was charged).

 

THIS IS NOT what they law was intended for. It's stuff like this that needs attention. What they need to understand is no mater what they do prostitution will still happen (It's a very needed service), if they make the laws overly restrictive it will only push the already illegal stuff more underground and the currently legal stuff more restrictive (The chance of better rights protection for the legitimate escorts is probably never going to happen in our lifetime but we can only hope someone proves me wrong!)

 

The more illegal it becomes the more BAD people it will attract.

hmmm...What if the first question the SP asked before anything else with Mr. Potential if they were indeed the LE? Would Mr. Potential not have to admit. I think it would definitely be entrapment if they were untruthful.

Here's something interesting going on in San Fran. A lot of people are saying this bill has a good chance of passing. Maybe we should adopt similar policies here in the great white north....

http://www.bayswan.org/SFInitiative08/

What do you think?

We DO NOT have the same type of entrapment laws in Canada that they have in some other countries.

If a prostitute suspected of committing a crime asks the John if he (or she) is a police officer they can lie and say NO and still make an arrest (Same holds true with a undercover streetwalker sting).

Now... if the girl was not a SP and a cop tried to solicit sex from her... well this is really when our entrapment laws would come in effect as the cop is persuading the person to commit a crime (reward based). This is known as "random virtue testing" (without reasonable suspicion) so they must be already under investigation for a crime and they are still limited to providing only an opportunity to commit the offense they can not persuade the person or entice them to the point of entrapping them.

Also... it should be noted that in Canada the question of entrapment is only considered after there has been a finding of guilt by a court of law. (similar to an acquittal).

they do not have to admit they're a cop in the states either.... the cop can say no and still make an arrest as well.

With further research I must admit that you are correct, I edited my response to be more accurate. The US laws appear to be much like our own and the police do not have to admit they are law enforcement officers.

Thanks for the insight with respect to entrapment.

Best way to prevent prostitution is to build glory holes on streets but have them hidden from public view, something like a politician. And when ever the urge happens, just look on your trusty city map, find a location, male/female pay with a debit card and enjoy......