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Has anyone seen this article on Fife outlawing solicitation online? Yikes. Scary. Hope this doesn't spread. Seems to me like it violates freedom of speech but that's just my opinion. Anyone else care to chime in?
Leslie
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http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/232418.html
Fife targets online sex adsCity cracks down on prostitutionSTEVE MAYNARD; The News Tribune Published: December 18th, 2007 06:25 AM
Prostitutes used to walk up and down Highway 99 in Fife to flag down customers. Now they’re mostly using the Internet and other electronic means to advertise sex for money and arrange meetings with customers at Fife motels.
To keep up with the changes, the city last week approved expanding its laws against prostitution.
The City Council voted unanimously to make it illegal to use e-mail, the Web, message boards or any other online service to solicit, advertise or otherwise agree to an act of prostitution. Soliciting by telephone, voice mail or pager also was outlawed.
Fife police have conducted several stings over the past year and have arrested prostitutes who advertise on Craigslist, the Web site known for its local job and for-sale ads in hundreds of cities around the world.
Undercover police responded to free online classified ads offering sex acts and have arranged meetings at Fife motels along Highway 99, or Pacific Highway East. Two weeks ago, Fife police arrested three prostitutes in a sting, said Lt. Tom Thompson.
Making it a crime to advertise for sex on the Internet makes it easier for police to establish probable cause when arresting prostitutes and customers who meet in Fife, said Police Chief Brad Blackburn.
The Internet ads usually include pictures with the prostitutes’ faces.
The expanded city code also could lead to more legal problems, including arrests, for prostitutes who are convicted, have their sentence suspended and then defy orders not to solicit over the Internet, Thompson said.
Blackburn said Fife is the first city in Washington to criminalize Internet advertising for prostitution. The council is expected to take its second, final vote on the additions – usually a formality – on Jan. 8.
Prostitution’s move to cyberspace has been under way for a couple of years, Thompson said.
“The ordinance has got to evolve with the industry,” said Fife Municipal Court Judge Kevin Ringus.
The practice of selling sex this way is widespread. In Cook County, Ill., the sheriff in July rounded up 60 women who spread word of their services on Craigslist, according to The New York Times. In Seattle, a covert police ad placed on the site a year ago led to the arrest of 71 men, including a bank officer and a surgeon.
Fife, a fast-growing city with a population of 7,180, turned 50 this year. When the city code was written years ago, “We weren’t having the problem with the Internet,” Thompson said.
Now, he said, “The officers aren’t seeing the girls out, for lack of a better word, shopping their wares on the road.”
In the Seattle-Tacoma section of Craigslist on Monday, there was an ad for a “sexy blonde ready for anything.” It later advises: “Please ask about my half hour specials.”
Another ad reads, “I’m Danielle all night tonight and all afternoon until 4 p.m! Give me a call you won’t be disappointed. Serious inquiries only.” A phone number appears above a picture of a woman on a bed.
The Fife council also outlawed transporting a known prostitute to a motel and waiting for the prostitute to return after a transaction is complete. This behavior will now fall under the crime of prostitution loitering – an effort to deter pimps.
Fife police saw the need for this law change after arresting a man last year for obstructing. He had refused to answer questions after dropping off a prostitute, Thompson said.
A Pierce County Superior Court judge ruled police didn’t have reason to contact him, Blackburn said.
Both of the additional offenses are misdemeanor crimes punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Tacoma already has a law that forbids transporting someone to commit prostitution, said Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum. Tacoma’s code outlaws soliciting for sex but doesn’t address using the Internet to do so.
“To my knowledge, we haven’t had any big issues with the electronic, e-mail versions of setting up deals,” Fulghum said.
If that were to become a major problem, Fulghum said, Tacoma police would consider recommending provisions like Fife’s.
Lakewood – one of the other local cities that historically has struggled with prostitution – also doesn’t have a law against soliciting sex over the Internet, said city spokesman Jeff Brewster. And it doesn’t have a specific code against transporting a known prostitute, he said.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
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