U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 
www.cops.usdoj.gov 

Street 
Prostitution 
2nd Edition 

by 
Michael S. Scott 
Kelly Dedel 

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 
Problem-Specific Guides Series 
No. 2 


www.PopCenter.org 
Center for Problem-Oriented Policing 

Got a Problem? Weve got answers! 

Log onto the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing website at 
www.popcenter.org for a wealth of information to help you deal 
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including: 

 Web-enhanced versions of all currently available Guides 
 Interactive training exercises 
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 Online problem analysis module. 

Designed for police and those who work with them to address 
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problem-oriented policing. 

Supported by the Office of Community Oriented Policing 
Services, U.S. Department of Justice. 


Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 
Problem-Specific Guides SeriesGuide No. 2 

Street Prostitution 

2nd Edition 

Michael S. Scott 
Kelly Dedel 

This project was supported by cooperative agreements 
#1999CKWXK004 and #2005CKWXK001 by the Office of 
Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. 
The opinions contained herein are those of the authors and do not 
necessarily represent the official position of the Department of Justice. 
References to specific companies, products, or services should not be 
considered as an endorsement thereof by the authors or the Justice 
Department. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement 
discussion of the issues. 

www.cops.usdoj.gov 

ISBN: 1-932582-72-X 

November 2006 


About the Problem-Specific Guides Series 

The Problem-Specific Guides summarize knowledge about how 
police can reduce the harm caused by specific crime and 
disorder problems. They are guides to prevention and to 
improving the overall response to incidents, not to investigating 
offenses or handling specific incidents. Neither do they cover 
all of the technical details about how to implement specific 
responses. The guides are written for policeof whatever rank 
or assignmentwho must address the specific problem the 
guides cover. The guides will be most useful to officers who: 

 Understand basic problem-oriented policing principles 
and methods. The guides are not primers in problem-
oriented policing. They deal only briefly with the initial 
decision to focus on a particular problem, methods to 
analyze the problem, and means to assess the results of a 
problem-oriented policing project. They are designed to help 
police decide how best to analyze and address a problem 
they have already identified. (A companion series of Problem-
Solving Tools guides has been produced to aid in various 
aspects of problem analysis and assessment.) 

 Can look at a problem in depth. Depending on the 
complexity of the problem, you should be prepared to spend 
perhaps weeks, or even months, analyzing and responding to 
it. Carefully studying a problem before responding helps you 
design the right strategy, one that is most likely to work in 
your community. You should not blindly adopt the responses 
others have used; you must decide whether they are 
appropriate to your local situation. What is true in one place 
may not be true elsewhere; what works in one place may not 
work everywhere. 


 Are willing to consider new ways of doing police 
business. The guides describe responses that other police 
departments have used or that researchers have tested. 
While not all of these responses will be appropriate to your 
particular problem, they should help give a broader view of 
the kinds of things you could do. You may think you cannot 
implement some of these responses in your jurisdiction, 
but perhaps you can. In many places, when police have 
discovered a more effective response, they have succeeded 
in having laws and policies changed, improving the response 
to the problem. (A companion series of Response Guides has 
been produced to help you understand how commonly-used 
police responses work on a variety of problems.) 

 Understand the value and the limits of research 
knowledge. For some types of problems, a lot of useful 
research is available to the police; for other problems, 
little is available. Accordingly, some guides in this series 
summarize existing research whereas other guides illustrate 
the need for more research on that particular problem. 
Regardless, research has not provided definitive answers to 
all the questions you might have about the problem. The 
research may help get you started in designing your own 
responses, but it cannot tell you exactly what to do. This 
will depend greatly on the particular nature of your local 
problem. In the interest of keeping the guides readable, 
not every piece of relevant research has been cited, nor has 
every point been attributed to its sources. To have done so 
would have overwhelmed and distracted the reader. The 
references listed at the end of each guide are those drawn 
on most heavily; they are not a complete bibliography of 
research on the subject. 

 Are willing to work with others to find effective 
solutions to the problem. The police alone cannot 
implement many of the responses discussed in the guides. 
They must frequently implement them in partnership with 


other responsible private and public bodies including other 
government agencies, non-governmental organizations, 
private businesses, public utilities, community groups, 
and individual citizens. An effective problem-solver must 
know how to forge genuine partnerships with others 
and be prepared to invest considerable effort in making 
these partnerships work. Each guide identifies particular 
individuals or groups in the community with whom 
police might work to improve the overall response to that 
problem. Thorough analysis of problems often reveals 
that individuals and groups other than the police are in 
a stronger position to address problems and that police 
ought to shift some greater responsibility to them to do 
so. Response Guide No. 3, Shifting and Sharing Responsibility 
for Public Safety Problems, provides further discussion of this 
topic. 

The COPS Office defines community policing as a policing 
philosophy that promotes and supports organizational 
strategies to address the causes and reduce the fear of crime 
and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and 
police-community partnerships. These guides emphasize 
problem-solving and police-community partnerships in the 
context of addressing specific public safety problems. For 
the most part, the organizational strategies that can facilitate 
problem-solving and police-community partnerships vary considerably 
and discussion of them is beyond the scope of these guides. 

These guides have drawn on research findings and police 
practices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, 
Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. 
Even though laws, customs and police practices vary from 
country to country, it is apparent that the police everywhere 
experience common problems. In a world that is becoming 
increasingly interconnected, it is important that police be 
aware of research and successful practices beyond the borders 
of their own countries. 


Each guide is informed by a thorough review of the research 
literature and reported police practice and is anonymously 
peer-reviewed by line police officers, police executives and 
researchers prior to publication. 

The COPS Office and the authors encourage you to provide 
feedback on this guide and to report on your own agencys 
experiences dealing with a similar problem. Your agency 
may have effectively addressed a problem using responses 
not considered in these guides and your experiences and 
knowledge could benefit others. This information will be used 
to update the guides. If you wish to provide feedback and 
share your experiences it should be sent via e-mail to cops_ 
pubs@usdoj.gov. 

For more information about problem-oriented policing, visit 
the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing online at www. 
popcenter.org. This website offers free online access to: 

 the Problem-Specific Guides series 
 the companion Response Guides and Problem-Solving Tools series 
 instructional information about problem-oriented policing 
and related topics 
 an interactive problem-oriented policing training exercise 
 an interactive Problem Analysis Module 
 a manual for crime analysts 
 online access to important police research and practices 
 information about problem-oriented policing conferences 
and award programs. 


Acknowledgments 

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police are produced by the 
Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, whose officers are 
Michael S. Scott (Director), Ronald V. Clarke (Associate 
Director) and Graeme R. Newman (Associate Director). 
While each guide has a primary author, other project team 
members, COPS Office staff and anonymous peer reviewers 
contributed to each guide by proposing text, recommending 
research and offering suggestions on matters of format and 
style. 

The project team that developed the guide series comprised 
Herman Goldstein (University of Wisconsin Law School), 
Ronald V. Clarke (Rutgers University), John E. Eck (University 
of Cincinnati), Michael S. Scott (University of Wisconsin Law 
School), Rana Sampson (Police Consultant), and Deborah 
Lamm Weisel (North Carolina State University). 

Members of the San Diego; National City, California; and 
Savannah, Georgia police departments provided feedback on 
the guides format and style in the early stages of the project. 

Cynthia E. Pappas oversaw the project for the COPS Office. 
Research for the guide was conducted at the Criminal Justice 
Library at Rutgers University under the direction of Phyllis 
Schultze. Suzanne Fregly edited this guide. 


Contents 

About the Guide Series......................................... i 

Acknowledgments.................................................v

The Problem of Street Prostitution............................. 1
What This Guide Does and Does Not Cover ....................... 1
Harms Caused by Street Prostitution ........................... 2
Moral and Nuisance Concerns.................................... 3
Public Health Concerns ........................................ 3
Personal Safety Concerns ...................................... 4
Spillover-Effect Concerns...................................... 4
Economic Concerns ............................................. 4
Civil Rights Concerns.......................................... 4
Police Integrity Concerns...................................... 4
Factors Contributing to Street Prostitution.................... 5
Street Prostitutes............................................. 5
Street Prostitutes Clients ................................... 6
Pimps ......................................................... 7
Sexual Transactions............................................ 8
Areas Where Street Prostitution Exists......................... 8
Links Between Street Prostitution and Drugs.................... 11

Understanding Your Local Problem............................... 13
Stakeholders .................................................. 13
Asking the Right Questions..................................... 13
Police and Community Members................................... 14
Street Prostitutes ............................................ 14
Street Prostitutes Clients ................................... 15
Pimps ......................................................... 15
Sexual Transactions............................................ 15
Environment ................................................... 15
Drug Links..................................................... 16
Current Responses to the Problem .............................. 16
Measuring Your Effectiveness .................................. 17


Responses to the Problem of Street Prostitution................ 19
General Principles for an Effective Strategy................... 19
Specific Responses To Address Street Prostitution ............. 20
Deterring Prostitutes and Clients.............................. 20
Targeting Prostitutes ......................................... 28
Targeting Clients ............................................. 33
Changing the Environment....................................... 35
Responses With Limited Effectiveness........................... 38

Appendix: Summary of Responses to Street Prostitution ......... 41
Endnotes ...................................................... 51
References .................................................... 55
About the Authors.............................................. 67
Recommended Readings .......................................... 69
Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police....................... 73


The Problem of Street Prostitution 

What This Guide Does and Does Not Cover 

This guide addresses the problem of street prostitution, 
focusing on female prostitutes and male clients. It begins by 
describing the problem and reviewing factors that contribute 
to it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you 
analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to 
the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative 
research and practice. 

Street prostitution is only one of a number of sexual activity-
related problems the police must address. This guide is limited 
to addressing the particular harms street prostitution creates. 
Related problems not directly addressed in this guide include 

 consensual, unpaid sex in public places, including meeting 
places for anonymous sex among homosexuals 

 homosexual prostitution, also known as hustling (young 
homosexual prostitution is also known as the chicken 
hawk trade) 

 illegal immigration and forced prostitution (international 
trafficking in women and girls) 

 juvenile runaways drawn into prostitution 

 organized crime connections to prostitution 

 prostitution at truck stops or motels 

 prostitution through call girls, escort services, internet 
listings, and massage parlors, and at bars, hotels, and 
conventions 

 serial murders of prostitutes 

 solicitation by leaving calling cards in conspicuous public 
places (e.g., phone booths) 

 strip clubs in which strippers also engage in prostitution 

 transvestite prostitution. 



Some of these related problems are covered in other guides in 
this series, all of which are listed at the end of this guide. For 
the most up-to-date listing of current and future guides, see 
www.popcenter.org. 

There are widely different perspectives on prostitution. Some 
view the prostitutes as primarily responsible for the problem; 
some view the clients as responsible, and the prostitutes 
as victims. Others view prostitution as a private matter in 
which the state should not intervene. Community morals 
and beliefs about how the law should regulate morality 
will affect how any particular community addresses street 
prostitution. This guide does not adopt any particular moral 
perspective: It is intended to objectively inform you and other 
policymakers about the effectiveness and consequences of 
various approaches to controlling street prostitution. Before 
discussing response options, a general overview of the 
problem is provided. 

 For example, in Sweden, 
prostitution is officially considered 
a form of sexual violence against 
women. Prostitutes do not risk 
legal penalties. The public strongly 
supports this policy, with an 80 
percent approval rate (Eckberg 2004). 

 The information in this section is 
drawn from many sources, not all of 
which are cited. Among the sources 
most heavily relied on are Benson 
and Matthews (1995); Cohen (1980); 
Matthews (1993); May, Edmunds, 
and Hough (1999); Sterk and Elifson 
(1990); van Gelder and Kaplan 
(1992); Weidner (2001); and Weitzer 
(2000). 

Harms Caused by Street Prostitution 

Street prostitution varies across the individual prostitutes 
involved and their commitment to prostitution, the market 
size, the communitys tolerance levels, the degree to which 
prostitutes are organized, and the relationship of prostitution 
to drug use and trafficking. Street prostitution accounts for 
perhaps only 10 to 20 percent of all prostitution, but it has 
the most visible negative impact on the community. 

The following are among the many reasons why the police 
should be concerned about street prostitution.1 


Moral and Nuisance Concerns 

 Prostitution offends some citizens moral standards. 

 Prostitution is a nuisance to passersby and to nearby 
residents and businesses. 

 Prostitutes and clients offend uninvolved people in the area 
when they solicit them. 

 Juveniles, less capable of making informed choices, may 
become prostitutes. 

Public Health Concerns 

 Prostitutes and clients may spread sexually transmitted 
diseases such as syphilis, herpes, and AIDS. 

 Used condoms, syringes, and other paraphernalia left on the 
ground are unsightly and potentially hazardous. 

 Prostitutes who do not have access to proper facilities may 
urinate, defecate, or bathe in public. 

 Contrary to popular belief, 
prostitution has not been 
demonstrated to be a primary 
means of HIV transmission, at least 
not in the United States, largely 
because most street prostitution 
sex acts are oral rather than 
vaginal (oral transmission is less 
likely), most prostitutes insist that 
clients use condoms (less true of 
drug-dependent prostitutes), and 
transmission is more difficult from 
female to male. Of course, fear of 
contracting HIV has likely changed 
the sex practices of some prostitutes 
and clients. HIV transmission 
among prostitutes is more likely to 
occur from sharing needles for drug 
injections (Weitzer 2000). 

Bob Heimberger 
Image of used condom
Image of used syringe
Used condoms and syringes commonly found on the ground in street 
prostitution areas are unsightly and potentially hazardous.


Personal Safety Concerns 

 Clients may harm prostitutes. 
 Clients or prostitutes may be defrauded, robbed, or assaulted. 
 Pimps may financially and physically exploit prostitutes. 

Spillover-Effect Concerns 

 Street prostitution and street drug markets are often linked. 
 Prostitution may provide the seedbed for organized crime. 
 Prostitutes create parking and traffic problems where they congregate. 
 Prostitution attracts strangers and criminals to a neighborhood. 

Economic Concerns 

 Legitimate businesses may lose customers who avoid the 
area because of prostitution. 
 Prostitutes presence may negatively affect the area 
economy, reducing property values and limiting 
property use. 
 Prostitutes, as citizens, have rights that need to be protected. 

Civil Rights Concerns 

Police Integrity Concerns 

 Policing prostitution creates special opportunities for 
police officers to engage in unethical conduct, such as 
taking payments in exchange for nonenforcement, because 
prostitutes, pimps, and clients are in weak positions to 
complain about police misconduct.2 


Factors Contributing to Street Prostitution 

Understanding the factors that are known to contribute to 
your problem will help you frame your own local analysis 
questions, determine good effectiveness measures, recognize 
key intervention points, and select an appropriate set of 
responses for your particular problem. The literature on 
street prostitution provides a general picture of street 
prostitutes, clients, pimps, sexual transactions, areas 
where street prostitution thrives, and links between street 
prostitution and drugs. 

Street Prostitutes 

Street prostitutes have lower status than indoor prostitutes. 
They are often in some state of personal decline (e.g., running 
away from abusive situations, becoming drug-dependent, 
deteriorating psychologically, and/or getting less physically 
attractive).3 Most have social, economic, and health problems. 
Most first turn to prostitution at a young age, often before 
they are 18.4 

Street prostitutes are not equally committed to prostitution: 
some are deeply committed for financial and lifestyle reasons; 
some are committed only due to drug dependency; and some 
are weakly committed, engaging in prostitution because it is 
the easiest way for them to make some money. Their inability 
to find adequately paying work elsewhere is the most common 
reason prostitutes give to explain their choice to work on the 
street.5 Many prostitutes try to leave the streets, although they 
often return and then leave again. Most return to prostitution 
because their limited education and lack of skills make finding 
employment very difficult. Without a means to support 
themselves and their children, they may think staying on the 
streets is less risky than leaving prostitution.6 


The typical street prostitute works six to eight hours a day, 
five to six days a week, and has three to five clients a night.7 
Street prostitutes lives are organized principally around 
prostitution itself, and around maneuvering through the 
legal system. It is a cycle of engaging in prostitution, getting 
arrested, going to jail, paying fines, and returning to the street. 

Some street prostitutes are highly mobile, traveling from one 
city to another, sometimes on a regular circuit, or when they 
think the risks are too high in one city or the money is better 
in another. 

Although most sexual encounters do not involve violence, 
most street prostitutes report having been criminally 
assaulted at least once by clients.8 A small percentage of 
clients are likely responsible for most of the violence 
committed against prostitutes. The pattern of violence in 
pimp-prostitute relationships is similar to that of domestic 
violence. Prostitutes do not report most assaults to the police 
because they either fear retaliation by pimps or believe the 
police will not take the matter seriously, or will charge them 
for soliciting.9 Both prostitutes and those who assault them 
may believe prostitutes are not entitled to the criminal justice 
systems normal protections.10 

Street Prostitutes Clients 

Prostitution clients, typically referred to as johns or 
tricks, are attracted to the illicit nature of the encounter, 
desire sex acts that regular partners do not provide, view sex 
as merely a commodity, and/or lack interest in or access to 
conventional relationships.11 Others are drawn to the fact 
that no commitment is required, and view these interactions 
as less risky than having an affair.12 Clients decision to 
solicit a prostitute is influenced by availability of prostitutes, 
knowledge of where to find them, access to money, perceived 


risk of getting caught or contracting disease, and ease of 
securing services. Clients gather such information in a variety 
of ways: from trial and error; from personal recommendations 
from others (including friends, bartenders, taxi drivers, and 
hotel workers); and, increasingly, from information posted on 
internet websites. 

Somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of men admit they have 
paid for sex, but only about 1 percent pay for sex regularly.13 
While this is still a large number of potential clients, it is 
considerably lower than some earlier estimates based on 
flawed research methods. The characteristics of men arrested 
for soliciting vary considerably and do not form any clear 
patterns.14 Many seek to rationalize their conduct to themselves 
and others. When stopped by police, clients often try to justify 
their behavior by telling a sob story of personal loss, or will 
admit to cruising but not soliciting, stating they were just 
curious.15 Others resist the idea that prostitution is immoral. 

Clients are more easily deterred than prostitutes.16 They are 
more readily ashamed of their behavior, and fear harming 
their public reputation or their standing in their personal lives. 
Consequently, they fear being identified publicly more than 
being fined for their conduct. 

Pimps 

It is unclear what percentage of street prostitutes have pimps; 
prostitutes are reluctant to talk to anyone about their pimps, 
and it is difficult for police to make cases against pimps. Pimps 
recruit and socialize prostitutes into the prostitution subculture 
by appealing to either their desire for money or their desire for 
what they believe will be a glamorous and exciting lifestyle.17 



Pimps seldom procure clients for prostitutes, because clients 
do not typically want to associate with anyone other than the 
prostitute. Pimps do not offer prostitutes much protection 
against client violence, but do offer them protection against 
assault by other pimps. Although classic pimp relationships 
still exist in both the United States and the United Kingdom, 
many men with serious drug addictions force their girlfriends 
into prostitution to support their drug habits.18 

Pimps use violence and drug dependency as means to control 
prostitutes. Many pimps resemble the batterers in domestic 
violence situations, and women under their control often react 
similarly to domestic violence victims.19 They may express 
love and admiration for their pimps and may feel they deserve 
the violence. Pimps control both their freedom and their 
finances. By some estimates, pimps take 60 to 70 percent of 
prostitutes earnings. 

 One study found, however, that 
women with pimps experienced higher 
levels of client violence than those 
without pimps. Women with pimps 
tended to work in more dangerous 
areas and take more risks because of 
pressure to earn a certain amount of 
money (Norton-Hawk 2004). 

Sexual Transactions 

The prices for sex acts vary a little from community to 
community. Depending on how desperate the prostitutes are 
for money, they typically charge $20 to $50 for oral sex, and 
$50 to $100 for sexual intercourse. Among crack-addicted 
prostitutes, the price can be as low as the market price for a 
single rock of crack cocaine. The typical sexual transaction 
takes around 10 minutes in a vehicle (usually for oral sex), and 
around 25 minutes indoors. 

Areas Where Street Prostitution Exists 

Street prostitution markets go through stages of 
developmentthey emerge, expand, stabilize, and disappear.20 
Sometimes they emerge by accident, when a few prostitutes 
happen upon a new location; sometimes they emerge because 
of changes in an areas traffic or commercial patterns (e.g., 


new roadways or new businesses such as adult entertainment 
establishments); and sometimes they emerge because police 
enforcement displaced them. It is important that an area be 
known for street prostitution so clients will know where to 
look. 

Street prostitution is more prevalent in run-down 
neighborhoods. Those that are populated heavily by 
unattached males are more vulnerable to street prostitution 
than those with a lot of women, families, or elderly residents, 
because the likelihood of vocal community opposition is 
lower. For street prostitution to thrive, the surrounding 
neighborhood cannot be too crime-ridden or appear too 
threatening to potential clients. Consequently, it is often 
found in areas that are marginal or in transition, rather than 
in thoroughly blighted areas. However, the emergence of 
street prostitution will almost certainly speed up decline. 
Neighborhood redevelopment or gentrification frequently 
prompts strong community opposition to street prostitution, 
and clearly drives much of the pressure on the police to 
control it. 

Street prostitution areas are typically small, less than a square 
mile. Larger cities usually have several such areas. They are 
typically industrial sites; declining residential areas; those near 
major thoroughfares, including tunnels, bridges, or airport 
access roads; or those near transportation hubs, such as 
train and bus stations. Street prostitution flourishes around 
convention centers and hotels, especially when mostly male 
conventions are held. 


Street prostitution thrives in areas where it does not conflict 
with legitimate business, but rather, supports and is supported 
by that business. The following foster street prostitution: 

 places where sexual transactions can occur, such as 
cheap motels and hotels, dimly lit parking lots, alleys, and 
abandoned buildings 

 places where prostitutes can take a break, such as coffee 
shops or bars 

 places near a street drug market, so prostitutes and clients 
can readily buy drugs 

 places offering escape avenues from the police and 
dangerous clients 

 roads that allow drivers to slow down or stop, ideally where 
the drivers side of the vehicle is closest to the curb. 

Bob Heimberger 
Image of rundown motel
Street prostitution often thrives in areas where there are cheap motels 
and hotels.


Bob Morris 
Image of prostitute soliciting a driver
Street prostitution thrives along roads where prostitutes can talk 
to drivers from the curbside. 

Prostitutes usually take clients to places that minimize the 
risk of violence and ensure that transactions occur without 
incident.21 These places are often near the street where the 
negotiation occurred so that the amount of time required for 
each transaction is limited. Most are out of sight of passersby 
but not so secluded that prostitutes will be unable to attract 
attention if they need help. 

Links Between Street Prostitution and Drugs 

Street prostitution and street drug markets are often closely 
linked, supporting and reinforcing one another.22 Many 
street prostitutes use illegal drugs, mainly methamphetamine, 
cocaine, or heroin. Many female serious drug users turn 
to prostitution at some point to finance their habit. Some 
prostitutes develop drug habits before turning to prostitution, 
while others start using drugs as part of the street prostitution 
lifestyle. Prostitutes are a significant customer base for street- 
level drug dealers. 


Crack cocaine markets drive down the price of street 
prostitution, as some prostitutes, desperate to buy drugs, sell 
sex cheaply. Other prostitutes resent them for driving down 
prices or permitting sex without condoms, and pimps punish 
them for withholding their earnings to buy drugs. Drug-
dependent prostitutes are more vulnerable to violence and 
more likely to rob their clients. In summary, where drugs and 
street prostitution are linked, street prostitution becomes less 
predictable and more dangerous. 


Understanding Your Local Problem 

The information provided above is only a generalized 
description of street prostitution. You must combine the 
basic facts with a more specific understanding of your local 
problem. Analyzing the local problem carefully will help you 
design a more effective response strategy. 

Stakeholders 

Police are not solely responsible for addressing this 
problem. In addition to criminal justice agencies, the 
following groups have an interest in the street prostitution 
problem, and you should consider the contribution they 
might make to gathering information about the problem 
and responding to it: 

 elected and appointed local government officials 
 public health agencies 
 prostitutes support organizations 
 social service agencies 
 business associations 
 tourism and convention promotion bureaus 
 neighborhood associations 
 traffic engineering departments. 

Asking the Right Questions 

The following are some critical questions you should ask in 
analyzing your particular problem of street prostitution, even 
if the answers are not always readily available. Your answers 
to these and other questions will help you choose the most 
appropriate set of responses later on. 


There are many ways to enlist community members in the 
task of gathering information to document the problems 
scope.23 These include using handheld video cameras to 
record activity, taking guided walks with police to identify 
areas where residents feel unsafe, highlighting trouble spots 
on neighborhood maps, and using data collection forms to 
record the date, time, and nature of events they witness. 

Police and Community Members 

 How concerned is the police department about street 
prostitution? How concerned is the community? What 
groups are particularly concerned, and why? What specific 
concerns do they express? 

 How organized and active are community members who 
oppose street prostitution? What street prostitution level are 
they willing to tolerate? 

Street Prostitutes 

 Does street prostitution take only one form (e.g., female 
prostitutes and male clients), or are there several different 
forms (e.g., homosexual or transvestite prostitution)? 

 What do you know about the prostitutes (e.g., age, gender, 
race, criminal history, social service history, substance abuse 
history, residence)? 

 Do street prostitutes commit crimes against clients (e.g., 
robbery or theft)? Are street prostitutes crime victims? 

 How committed are prostitutes to prostitution? How 
committed are they to a particular location? 

 How many prostitutes have tried to leave the streets before? 
What drew them back? What additional services could have 
supported their decision to leave? 

 The Raleigh (North Carolina) 
Police Department conducted a 
problem-solving project using this 
guides first edition. Refer to Weisel 
(2004) for an excellent example of 
adapting the processes described here 
to local conditions. The report also 
contains useful sample survey tools 
for prostitutes and clients. 


Street Prostitutes Clients 

 What do you know about the clients (e.g., age, race, 
occupation, socioeconomic status, marital status, criminal 
history, residence)? 

 How committed are clients to prostitution? How committed 
are they to soliciting prostitutes on the street or in a 
particular area? 

 How often do you rearrest clients for soliciting prostitutes? 

Pimps 

 Do the prostitutes work for pimps who profit from their income? 

 How many prostitutes do pimps manage? 

 Are pimps well-known to police? If so, how many pimps 
operate in the jurisdiction? 

 Is there pimp competition in prostitute control? 

Sexual Transactions 

 How, specifically, do street prostitutes and clients negotiate 
and complete sexual transactions? Do clients solicit 
prostitutes on foot or from a vehicle? Where do the sexual 
transactions take place? 

 Do prostitutes and clients take precautions to prevent 
sexually transmitted disease? 

Environment 

 Does street prostitution take place in more than one area? 
What conditions make the area(s) attractive for street 
prostitution? If street prostitution occurs in several areas, 
how are they similar and different? 


 What area businesses does street prostitution harm? 

 What area businesses support and/or benefit from street 
prostitution? 

 Is the street prostitution market in each area old or new? 
Has it changed in size recently? If so, why? 

 Do street prostitution areas have a reputation as being 
dangerous or safe for clients? 

 Are street prostitution areas isolated, or busy with other 
activities? 

 What other types of crime occur in the area? How much is 
related to street prostitution? 

 If street prostitution were forced out of a target area, where 
would you predict it might reappear, and why? 

Drug Links 

 To what extent are street prostitutes, clients, and pimps 
engaged in drug sales or use? 

 Are street prostitution and street drug markets near each 
other? 

 Do street prostitutes exchange sex directly for drugs? 

Current Responses to the Problem 

 What is the police departments current policy in dealing 
with street prostitution? What is the prosecutors current 
policy regarding prostitution-related offenses? What are 
the typical sentences handed out to those convicted? Do 
the prostitutes and clients complete those sentences? What 
effect, if any, does the imposition of a sentence have on 
subsequent prostitution involvement? 

 What responses do police officers use, other than arrest 
and prosecution? Are any of these responses especially 
effective? 

 What social, health, and substance-abuse treatment services 
are available to help prostitutes? Are prostitutes using 
available services? 


Measuring Your Effectiveness 

You should take measures of your problem before you 
implement responses, to determine how serious the problem 
is, and after you implement them, to determine whether they 
have been effective. Measurement allows you to determine to 
what degree your efforts have succeeded and suggests how 
you might modify your responses if they are not producing 
the intended results. There are various ways to quantify 
the size and scope of the problem to establish a baseline. 
You could track the total number of police contacts with 
prostitutes in the past 12 months, the number of prostitutes 
regularly seen or cautioned in an area, or the average number 
of women working on any given night. These data will be 
useful for different purposes: to estimate social service needs, 
as a point of reference for enforcement operations, or as a 
measure of police effectiveness.24,  For more detailed guidance 
on measuring effectiveness, see the companion guide to this 
series, Assessing Responses to Problems: An Introductory Guide for 
Police Problem-Solvers. 

The following are potentially useful measures of the 
effectiveness of responses to street prostitution: 

 reduced number of citizen complaints or calls for service 
about street prostitution 

 reduced number of prostitutes visible on the streets at 
particular times 

 increased transaction times for decoy officers trying to 
negotiate acts of prostitution 

 reduced arrests of repeat offenders (both prostitutes and 
clients) 

 reduced recidivism by both prostitutes and clients 

 changes in service prices for prostitutes 

 reduced traffic congestion in areas where curb-crawling (or 
kerb-crawling, in the United Kingdom) is a problem 

 The Deter and Identify Sex Trade 
Consumers database, accessed by 
36 police agencies across Canada 
and the United States, provides 
information on prostitutes and clients 
to support police investigations 
[Vancouver (British Columbia) Police 
Department Vice Unit 2002]. To be 
most effective, as many jurisdictions 
as possible need to use and receive 
information from multijurisdiction 
databases. In addition, data fields 
must be sufficiently detailed and data 
entry must be monitored for quality 
control. 

 Depending on the response 
strategy, arrests (and rearrests) of 
prostitutes and clients may increase 
initially. Over time, if the responses 
are effective, you should observe a 
reduction in the number of arrests. 

 Responses that reduce the 
number of prostitutes working in an 
area tend to drive prices up, whereas 
responses that reduce the number of 
clients soliciting in a particular area 
tend to drive prices down. 


 reduced volume of discarded condoms, syringes, and other 
prostitution-related paraphernalia 

 reduced total reported crime in target areas compared with 
control areas (keeping in mind that changes may be due 
to other factors, and that reported crime does not always 
correlate with actual crime). 


Responses to the Problem of Street 
Prostitution 

Your analysis of your local problem should give you a better 
understanding of the factors that are contributing to it. 
Once you have analyzed your local problem and established 
a baseline for measuring effectiveness, you should consider 
possible responses to address the problem. 

The following response strategies provide a foundation 
of ideas for addressing your particular problem. These 
strategies are drawn from a variety of research studies and 
police reports. Several of these strategies may apply to your 
communitys particular problem. It is critical that you tailor 
responses to local circumstances, and that you can justify 
each response based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an 
effective strategy will involve implementing several different 
responses. Law enforcement responses alone are seldom 
effective in reducing or solving the problem. Do not limit 
yourself to considering what police can do to better address 
the problem: carefully consider who else in your community 
shares responsibility for the problem and can help police 
better respond to it. The responsibility of responding, 
in some cases, may need to be shifted toward those who 
have the capacity to implement more effective responses. 
(For more detailed information on shifting and sharing 
responsibility, see Response Guide No. 3, Shifting and Sharing 
Responsibility for Public Safety Problems). 

General Principles for an Effective Strategy 

You should consider a few general principles when developing 
your response strategy. Which particular responses you adopt 
should depend on what you learn from a careful analysis 
of your local problem. The responses selected should be 
carefully focused on the angle of the problem that you are 



trying to resolve. Strategies seeking to reduce the harms 
caused by and experienced by prostitutes are more likely to 
work than those seeking to eliminate prostitution altogether. 
Strategies focused exclusively on arresting prostitutes are 
unlikely to be effective.25 At a minimum, both prostitutes and 
clients conduct should be addressed. An effective strategy not 
only must force prostitutes off the streets and get them to 
stop their offensive behavior, but also must give them viable 
alternatives: either to get out of prostitution altogether, or to 
operate in less-offensive locations, times, or ways. This usually 
requires greater cooperation between the police and various 
service organizations.26 The most effective responses to the 
problem of street prostitution rely heavily on social services 
for prostitutes to encourage their permanent exit from 
the street. Police must work closely with service providers 
to ensure the various enforcement- and treatment-based 
responses are well-coordinated. The transient nature of street 
prostitution and the fact that some responses may lead to 
displacement mean that jurisdictions must share information 
to make a significant regional impact on the problem. 

 The Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North 
Carolina) Police Departments 
multiagency response to street 
prostitution required social service 
providers to ride with police 
officers in the patrol districts 
implementing the program. These 
ride-alongs helped to create mutual 
understanding and appreciation 
for each stakeholders role in the 
program (Charlotte-Mecklenburg 
Police Department 2003). 

Specific Responses to Address Street Prostitution 

Deterring Prostitutes and Clients 

1. Enforcing laws prohibiting soliciting, patronizing, 
and loitering for the purposes of prostitution. The 
main strategy police use to control street prostitution is 
enforcing laws prohibiting soliciting, patronizing, and 
loitering for the purposes of prostitution. Enforcement 
strategies are expensive; each arrest costs thousands of 
dollars to process. By themselves, they are ineffective 
at either controlling street prostitution or protecting 
prostitutes from harm.27 Increased police enforcement 
temporarily reduces the number of prostitutes on the 


street, but they usually reappear in new areas. This may 
actually increase street prostitution in the long term by 
creating new opportunities for prostitutes and potential 
clients to meet. While the severity of the penalties 
against prostitutes does appear to affect the volume of 
prostitution, modest fines against prostitutes may actually 
force them to commit more prostitution to pay the fines. 
Prostitutes who are prosecuted are usually convicted, 
but many of them fail to show up for court hearings. 
Most prostitutes consider the costs of being arrested as 
a business expense and an inconvenience, and not as a 
significant deterrent. 

However, street prostitutes can provide valuable 
information to police about other crimes, and the threat 
of enforcement gives the police leverage for information. 
In some jurisdictions, controlling street prostitution is left 
to the vice squad. Limiting patrol officers involvement 
is intended to reduce corruption, but it can give the 
public the impression that only corrupt officers would 
ignore the problem. Whether using patrol or specially 
trained vice officers, police agencies should properly train, 
supervise, and monitor officers performance to reduce 
the likelihood of misconduct. 

Historically, the police have arrested far more prostitutes 
than clients, although many police agencies have shifted 
toward a more balanced enforcement strategy, targeting 
clients as well as prostitutes. To promote a consistent 
response and improve the chances for successful 
prosecutions, police agencies should prepare written 
guidelines governing how and under what circumstances 
they will enforce prostitution laws. 

 See Response Guide No. 1, The 
Benefits and Consequences of Police 
Crackdowns, for further discussion of 
how crackdowns work. 

 The Cleveland (England) Police 
Departments Middlesbrough Police 
District scheduled all defendants 
charged with soliciting for court on 
the same day. Concentrating the cases 
in this way helped judges to become 
aware of the problems scope, 
ensured consistent sanctions, and 
raised media interest and, as a result, 
public awareness (Cleveland Police, 
Middlesbrough Police District 2000). 


1a. Enforcing laws prohibiting prostitution and the 
solicitation thereof. Enforcing laws prohibiting 
prostitution usually requires undercover police officers to 
pose as clients to gather the necessary evidence, which 
can be difficult to get from street-savvy prostitutes. 
Enforcing prostitution laws against clients typically 
requires the police to pose as prostitutes to get evidence. 
Some police agencies still do not have enough female 
officers to conduct effective solicitation enforcement 
campaigns, and these assignments are typically not 
popular among officers.28 Moreover, decoy arrests of 
clients are open to legal entrapment defenses if officers 
are not careful. 

 The particular statutory and 
evidentiary requirements vary across 
jurisdictions. United Kingdom police 
do not use this strategy because 
neither prostitution itself nor 
proposing the exchange of sex for 
money is illegal. Prostitutes use a 
variety of methods to determine if 
a prospective client is an undercover 
police officer, including exposing 
themselves or asking the client/ 
officer to expose himself. The city 
of St. Petersburg, Florida passed an 
ordinance that specifically mentioned 
prostitutes efforts to identify police 
officers as among the behaviors that 
constitute a verified pattern of 
solicitation activity.

1b. 
Enforcing laws prohibiting conduct associated 
with prostitution and the solicitation thereof. Many 
jurisdictions have enacted laws that prohibit conduct 
associated with prostitution and the solicitation thereof, 
such as loitering for the purposes of prostitution, 
loitering in search of a prostitute, and curb-crawling. 
These laws are designed to let the police charge 
prostitutes and clients without having to prove there was 
a proposed or actual exchange of money for sex. Charges 
of loitering for the purposes of prostitution are difficult 
to prove in some jurisdictions, so even if arrest rates are 
high, prosecutions may not be. 

1c. 
Intensively enforcing prostitution laws against 
prostitutes and/or clients for short periods. In 
addition to routinely enforcing prostitution laws, the 
police often conduct intensive arrest campaigns against 
prostitutes, clients, or both. These campaigns significantly 
increase the risks of arrest, at least temporarily, bringing 
large numbers of prostitutes and clients into the formal 
justice system. When combined with media coverage, the 
campaigns are intended to deter those arrested from re-
offending, and to deter potential clients. The campaigns 


deterrent value wears off after time, however. In high-
volume arrest campaigns, the chances that police will 
arrest innocent people increase, unless they take special 
precautions. Without some follow-up court intervention 
or measures to change the environment, intensive 
enforcement campaigns only temporarily interrupt street 
prostitution, or move it elsewhere: they do not shut down 
a street prostitution market entirely. 

Intensive arrest campaigns may inadvertently increase 
the risk of harm street prostitutes face.29 To avoid police 
detection and to compensate for the reduced number of 
men soliciting services, prostitutes may work longer hours 
in more isolated, unfamiliar, or unsafe areas. The clientele 
in these areas may be unfamiliar, and yet the prostitutes 
may not take their usual safety precautions. As a result of 
increased competition for fewer clients, some prostitutes 
lower their prices, and thus must work in these conditions 
for longer periods to earn the same amount of money. 

2. Establishing a highly visible police presence. A highly 
visible police presence, typically with extra uniformed 
officers, is intended to discourage area street prostitution. 
Extra police presence is expensive, of course, and 
is effective only if the police follow it up with more 
permanent strategies. It can also create the perception 
that the area is unsafe. Alternative methods to establish 
a police presence are to open a police station (e.g., a 
storefront office, mobile office, or kiosk) in the area, or 
affix antiprostitution warning signs to police vehicles 
patrolling the area. Private security forces might also be 
deployed to supplement a police presence. 

 See National Research Council 
(2004) for further discussion of the 
effectiveness of so-called hot-spots 
policing. 


3. Relaxing the regulation of indoor prostitution 
venues. Whether changes in enforcement levels against 
indoor prostitution (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, 
mostly due to the high proportion of street prostitutes 
who are heavy drug users and thus not likely to be hired 
by indoor venues.30 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). Indoor 
prostitutes indoors seem more easily able to work on the 
streets when they have to than street prostitutes can move 
indoors.31 Relaxing the regulation of indoor prostitution 
may be perceived as condoning prostitution; in addition, 
indoor venues are of serious concern to police because 
of their role in the sexual exploitation of trafficked 
women.

 See Problem-Specific Guide No.
38, The Exploitation of Trafficked
Women. 

4. Enhancing fines/penalties for prostitution-related 
offenses committed within specified high-activity 
zones. Some communities have enhanced penalties for 
prostitution-related offenses committed within specific 
areas. These penalty enhancements are intended to move 
the street prostitution market to other locations so the 
target area can be redeveloped. You should be careful 
that the problem is not displaced to areas where the 
impact will be even worse. Research evidence about this 
responses effectiveness is lacking. 


5. Banning prostitutes or clients from certain areas. 
Many courts order prostitutes and clients to stay out 
of specifically defined areas where street prostitution is 
prevalent, as a condition of either bail or probation.32 
This practice is commonly referred to as mapping 
offenders out of areas. Enforcing the orders requires that 
police have good physical descriptions of the offenders 
and know the specific parameters of the orders.33 This 
practice may, however, displace prostitutes to more-
remote areas outside the prohibited zone, areas which 
may prove more hazardous to the prostitutes. In addition, 
forbidding their entry into certain areas may sever ties to 
the only social support networks they may have.34 

6. Using community justice panels and community 
service sentences in lieu of incarceration or 
fines. Instead of traditional criminal justice sanctions, 
prostitutes and clients can be required to appear before 
community justice panels that focus on restoring the 
harms the community suffers. Community service 
sanctions, when properly monitored and enforced, have 
been shown to be more effective than jail time or fines 
alone.35 

 In San Diego, California, men 
charged with soliciting are required 
to appear before a panel consisting 
of community members, prosecutors, 
public health workers, social service 
staff who work with prostitutes, and 
police (San Diego Police Department 
and San Diego City Attorneys Office 
2003). Men charged with soliciting in 
Indianapolis, Indiana, are required to 
return to the community in which the 
offense occurred to publicly face area 
residents and to perform community 
service work there (American 
Prosecutors Research Institute 2004). 

7. Enlisting community members to provide 
surveillance or to publicly protest against prostitutes 
or clients. Direct community activism in the form 
of organized marches, rallies, or confrontations of 
prostitutes and clients has proved effective in disrupting 
and moving street prostitution markets.36 Neighborhood 
associations can also post warning signs on buildings 
and utility poles indicating their intolerance for street 
prostitution in their community, warning prostitutes 
and potential clients that the area is under surveillance, 
and indicating the applicable penalties.37 This response 


is intended to intimidate prostitutes and clients, and 
to demonstrate the communitys resolve against street 
prostitution. You must guard against overzealous 
community conduct that violates prostitutes rights. In 
addition to the risk of vigilantism, police should recognize 
that some community protests do not necessarily reflect 
the attitudes of the entire community, but instead 
represent the preferences of those who participate.38 
Police should maintain close involvement with community 
groups to ensure proper oversight and supervision. 

Local street patrols conducted by community members 
can also provide valuable information to police. By 
recording the nature and volume of activity, these patrols 
can help police decide where to target their efforts. 
Effective patrols are difficult to establish and maintain 
without a highly committed leader to recruit, organize, 
and mobilize members.39 

 See Campbell (2001) for specific
guidance on developing community
leadership skills to address
prostitution and a variety of other
nuisance problems.

8. 
Educating and warning high-risk prostitute and 
client populations. Working with other institutions, you 
can target education and warning messages to groups 
especially likely to become involved in prostitution, as 
either prostitutes or clients. 

Certain groups are especially vulnerable to being recruited 
or drawn to street prostitution, among them juvenile 
offenders, juvenile runaways, and juveniles in group 
homes (residential custody). Young people at high risk 
for being recruited into prostitution usually have multiple 
critical social and psychological problems that require 
attention if they are to be kept out of prostitution. 
Addressing them requires that police develop effective 
partnerships with schools, the juvenile justice system, and 
child welfare systems. 


Among the high-risk client groups are male 
conventioneers, male soldiers, and previously arrested 
clients. The education and warning information can be 
conveyed through letters, lectures, video presentations, 
billboards, warning signs, or media outlets. A growing 
number of jurisdictions have established court-ordered 
education programs for convicted clients. These so-called 
john schools confront prostitution clients about the 
consequences of their behavior.40 They usually include 
information about the legal and health consequences 
for clients, the impact of street prostitution on the 
community and local businesses, and the negative effects 
of prostitution on prostitutes. Many programs have led to 
positive changes in attitude among participants and enjoy 
substantial support from participants, stakeholders, and 
the public. The program fees charged to clients are often 
used to support services designed to help prostitutes 
to leave the trade. Recidivism rates for clients who 
participate in court-ordered education programs are low 
(around 2% to 7%).41 It is less clear what added deterrent 
value there is in the education program beyond what is 
achieved by any official intervention, from a warning to 
an arrest.42 Further, official recidivism statistics may not 
reflect actual behavior because they are driven by the 
enforcement level, which varies over time.43 Finally, john 
schools do not specifically target potentially violent 
clients and therefore may deter only those least likely to 
victimize the prostitutes they solicit.44 


Targeting Prostitutes 

9. Serving restraining orders/civil injunctions against 
habitual prostitutes. A small percentage of prostitutes 
and pimps may be responsible for most of the complaints 
in a prostitution area. If you can establish this, you 
might more productively target your efforts at those few, 
rather than at the larger population of offenders. In the 
United Kingdom, Antisocial Behavior Orders (ASBOs) 
are used against habitual prostitutes to forbid a range of 
prostitution-related behaviors.45 ASBO violations carry 
stiffer penalties than prostitution charges. 

In several jurisdictions, the police have coordinated 
with merchants whose business is negatively affected by 
street prostitution to obtain restraining orders against 
prostitutes, prohibiting them from engaging in specific 
behavior within a specific area.46 In San Bernardino, 
California, certain existing municipal codes have been 
incorporated into court-ordered civil injunctions against 
known prostitutes. Violations of the restraining orders 
result in jail time and fines that exceed the usual penalties. 

The specific prohibitions mentioned in the San 
Bernardino restraining order are: 

 approaching or signaling to any vehicle in any street, 
alley, or other public passage area, thus causing the 
vehicle to stop, unless a legitimate emergency so 
requires 

 blocking the passage of any person or vehicle in any 
street, walkway, sidewalk, driveway, alley, or other public 
passage area 

 being on, or causing others to be on, private property, 
except (1) with the property owners prior written 
consent, or (2) in the property owners presence and 
with his or her voluntary consent 


 being on the premises of an uninhabited or abandoned 
building 

 making, causing, or encouraging others to violate noise 
restrictions 

 fighting in public or any place open to public view or 
hearing 

 drinking any alcoholic beverage in public or any place 
open to public view 

 urinating or defecating in public or any place open to 
public view 

 littering, including discarding cans, bottles, cigarettes, 
condoms, or hypodermic needles other than in a proper 
trash can 

 damaging or vandalizing anothers property, including 
any light fixture, fence, gate, wall, or window 

 applying graffiti to any public or private property, 
including any building, fence, wall, garage door, street 
sign, tree, pole, or vehicle 

 congregating in any public place for the purpose of 
engaging in any conduct prohibited by this injunction, 
or any criminal activity 

 intimidating, provoking, harassing, challenging, or 
carrying out any acts of retaliation, including, but not 
limited to, using abusive or vulgar language to harass 
any person (San Bernardino Police Department 1999). 

You should consult with legal counsel about the 
requirements for obtaining restraining orders. It may also 
take a lot of time and effort to obtain the documentation 
necessary for a restraining order. 

10. Mediating conflicts between prostitutes and the 
community. While negotiating with offenders is not 
common for the police, street prostitutes have responded 
positively in several communities where the police 
and community have requested that they stay away 


from certain areas or reduce their nuisance behavior in 
exchange for some tolerance.47 In one Vancouver, British 
Columbia community, community groups posted signs 
and maps requesting that prostitutes stay out of certain 
areas.48 Obviously, it can be difficult to get prostitutes to 
comply with agreements. 

11. Imposing curfews on prostitutes. Curfews can be 
imposed on prostitutes as a condition of either bail 
or probation. The purpose is to deny prostitutes the 
opportunity to work during peak hours. To be effective, 
police or corrections officials must monitor and enforce 
the curfews. 

12. Helping prostitutes to quit. Enforcement strategies 
will not be successful without an array of social services 
to help prostitutes leave the streets. It is particularly 
important to break the connection between drug use and 
sex work. Moving toward and finally leaving the streets 
is a long and complex process, and services must be 
provided at the right time and in the proper sequence.49 
For example, meeting the basic needs of child care, 
housing, public benefits, and drug treatment should come 
before intensive job training or employment programs. 
Services should be easy for women to access and should 
have flexible appointment times, reasonable wait times, 
extended hours of operation, and record-keeping 
practices that are sensitive to many prostitutes concerns 
for confidentiality.50 They should also be specifically 
designed to address the womens needs in the context of 
their work as street prostitutes. 

 The Prostitution Empowerment, 
Education, and Resources Society 
(PEERS) in Victoria, British 
Columbia helps women quit street 
prostitution in favor of mainstream 
employment. The program was 
specifically designed by and for 
women involved in prostitution 
who were deterred from using other 
non-prostitution-specific services 
(Rabinovitz and Strega 2004). 


Key services include the following: 

 Drug and alcohol treatment. Outreach on the street 
is essential to funneling prostitutes into needed services. 
Fast-tracking placement into residential treatment is 
also critical when women indicate their readiness for 
change.51 

 Mental health treatment. 

 Housing. While housing is an obvious need for 
homeless prostitutes, many other prostitutes live in 
environments that put them at continued risk for 
drug use and violence. An array of housing options, 
including short-term shelters and long-term stable 
housing, is needed.52 

 Peer support systems. Women wishing to leave 
prostitution need to develop new identities and need 
skills to access, establish, and maintain networks of 
peers who are not involved with prostitution.53 

 Child care. Many women involved with prostitution 
are also single parents. Childcare is a critical issue 
to address for both treatment and employment 
objectives.54 

 Job training and employment. 

 Health care and confidential testing for HIV and other 
sexually transmitted diseases. 

 Transportation. 

 Legal aid. 

Some communities offer a service-and-support network 
through either precharge or postcharge diversion 
programs, and some even offer these programs on the 
street, with no formal connection to the criminal justice 
system.55 Although these programs do not necessarily 
persuade many prostitutes to quit, they are essential for 
those motivated to do so, and they can be effective in 
reducing some of the risks to street prostitutes, such as 
sexually transmitted disease and assault.56 


13. Encouraging prostitutes to report serious offenses 
to the police. Police in some jurisdictions work hard 
to develop a good rapport with street prostitutes to 
persuade them to report juvenile prostitutes, violent 
clients, client robbery, etc., and to give evidence against 
pimps. Outreach workers can also be instrumental in 
convincing prostitutes to cooperate with police on serious 
matters. Prostitutes who help the police may require extra 
protection because they risk violent retaliation. 

 Merseyside, England police 
developed a computer application 
to systematically collate reports of 
crime committed by clients so that 
this information can be used across 
the region (Penfold et al. 2004). 

14. Helping prostitutes avoid dangerous clients and 
situations. Police in some jurisdictions distribute so-
called bad dates (or dodgy punters in the United 
Kingdom) lists to street prostitutes, warning them to stay 
away from clients known to assault prostitutes. Police 
can also post descriptions of dangerous clients and their 
vehicles on bulletin boards, newsletters, and leaflets. 
In other places, the prostitutes themselves or outreach 
workers circulate this information. These lists have led to 
increased reporting of violent crime against prostitutes.57 

Police might also support efforts to promote caution 
in dealing with clients by prostitutes who insist on 
continuing their trade. This might include encouraging 
prostitutes to do the following: 

 control the locations where they take clients for service, 
avoiding dimly lit and unfamiliar places 

 control negotiations with clients, setting clear limits for 
accepting or rejecting clients 

 maintain prices and safe-sex practices 

 work with a partner, copying down license plate 
numbers and agreeing to seek help if the other does 
not return within a specified time 


 refrain from using drugs when working on the street 
(drug use reduces awareness, control of self, and 
control of the situation) 

 carry a whistle or other attack prevention device 

 not carry drugs or excessive cash.58 

The New Westminster (British Columbia) Police Service 
developed a voluntary forensic identification registry for 
prostitutes. In the event that women working the streets 
are abducted or go missing, police have a photograph, 
fingerprints, DNA sample, and physical description to use 
when investigating the disappearance. This effort greatly 
improved relations between police and prostitutes by 
demonstrating police concern for prostitutes safety. The 
strategy also increased prostitutes willingness to provide 
information on various crimes. The medias interest in 
this initiative may have also deterred potentially violent 
clients.59 

Obviously, some people will object to police efforts to 
protect prostitutes, believing that doing so condones 
prostitution. 

Targeting Clients 

Clients are generally more easily deterred than prostitutes.60 
Almost any form of official or community intervention 
in clients behavior is sufficient to deter most clients from 
patronizing street prostitutes, at least at a particular location. 
This offers some justification for focusing responses on 
clients. However, since there are many more potential clients 
than street prostitutes, deterring individual clients does not 
necessarily reduce the overall demand for street prostitution.61 
To deter potential clients, they must believe there is a high 
likelihood they will be caught and publicly identified. 


15. Exposing clients to publicity. Community groups have 
organized to expose prostitution clients identity to either 
the general public or the clients families or employers. 
This can be done by photographing or videotaping 
clients, calling clients families or employers, writing down 
license plate numbers of vehicles seen driving around 
prostitution strips, mailing warning letters or postcards 
to registered vehicle owners, or posting clients names or 
photographs on street posts, billboards, telephone hotline 
fliers, and internet sites. Some police agencies have sent 
official letters or postcards warning prostitution clients 
about the legal and health consequences of patronizing 
prostitutes.62 In some instances, they send these warnings 
only to those arrested for soliciting prostitutes; in other 
instances, they send them to the registered owners 
of suspicious vehicles seen driving through street 
prostitution areas. In some areas, police use closed-circuit 
television (CCTV) cameras to discourage potential clients 
from hanging around.63 

Some police agencies and local governments have 
publicized the names and photographs of clients who 
are either arrested for and/or convicted of prostitution-
related offenses. The names and photographs may 
appear on television, in newspapers, or on internet 
websites. Many media outlets, however, refuse to 
participate, deeming it unnewsworthy and not wanting 
to appear to be an agent of the government. Some local 
governments have purchased advertising space to publish 
the information. There should be safeguards so that 
innocent people are not unfairly implicated or accused in 
illegal activity. Further, once a client has faced publicity 
from an initial arrest, he has little to lose, and subsequent 
threats of publicity are unlikely to be effective.64 

 In 2003 in Omaha, Nebraska, 
billboards with the slogan If you are 
convicted of soliciting a prostitute, 
you will see your name here 
publicized the names of six to 12 
offenders at a time (Hughes 2004). 
In Akron, Ohio, the Operation John 
Be Gone website, which posted the 
photographs of men charged with 
soliciting a prostitute, drew more 
than 100,000 hits in its first year 
online (MacMillan 2005). 

 See Persons (1996) for a thorough 
discussion of the effectiveness and 
legality of publicizing prostitution 
clients names. 


16. Notifying those with influence over clients conduct. 
Employers, schools, the military, convention organizers, 
and other individuals or groups often exert significant 
informal influence over prostitution clients conduct. You 
can leverage this influence by seeking such third parties 
cooperation to discipline clients who come to police 
attention. This strategy is not intended merely to shame 
clients, but rather, to change their behavior through 
disciplinary systems outside the formal justice system. 
Keep in mind that some forms of discipline, such as 
employment termination, can be severe. 

17. Restricting clients ability to drive. The city of 
Portland, Oregon is widely credited for pioneering the 
use of vehicle forfeiture laws against prostitution clients. 
In Portland, most vehicles were returned to the owners 
under deferred prosecution arrangements, with low levels 
(about 1%) of clients re-offending.65 Some jurisdictions 
have passed laws that allow judges to suspend or revoke 
the driving privileges of those convicted of patronizing 
prostitution.66 This approach is intended to deter both 
potential clients and those who regularly search for, and 
have sexual transactions with, prostitutes in cars. Many 
drivers continue to drive without valid licenses, however, 
so some enforcement will likely be necessary. 

Changing the Environment 

18. Closing streets and alleys, diverting traffic, or 
regulating parking. Traffic flow and patterns influence 
potential clients perceptions about their chances of 
negotiating a transaction and their risks of getting 
caught. Traffic-related factors are especially significant 
where sex acts take place in vehicles. Many clients stop 
to solicit prostitutes while on their way somewhere 



elsecommonly to or home from work. Responses that 
make it more difficult or risky for clients to negotiate a 
transaction will either discourage them from soliciting 
street prostitutes or encourage them to seek indoor 
prostitutes.67 For example, throughways can be closed at 
one end, two-way streets can be converted to one-way 
streets, speed bumps can be installed, and right turns 
can be prohibited to prevent drivers from circling the 
block.68,  Under some circumstances, the traffic changes 
may lock the problem into an area rather than force it 
out. You should also be careful that any traffic changes 
do not cause undue harm to residents and legitimate 
commerce in the area. 

 See Response Guide No. 2, Closing 
Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime, 
for further discussion of how this 
response works.

19. Enforcing zoning, nuisance abatement, and business 
license regulations against properties used for 
prostitution. As noted previously, street prostitution 
markets depend on other businesses to support them. 
The police and other enforcement agencies can exert 
pressure on those businesses to discourage their 
support of street prostitution by enforcing civil laws 
and business regulations. Some communities prohibit 
motels and hotels from renting rooms for short periods 
(i.e., at hourly rates), and require them to record guests 
identities through positive proof of identification, thus 
discouraging their use by prostitutes and clients.69 Zoning 
regulations that restrict the sorts of businesses that 
support street prostitution, such as adult entertainment, 
can be effective. Zoning restrictions have been key in the 
major redevelopment of Times Square in New York City, 
where street prostitution has significantly declined.70 The 
police and private parties can file nuisance abatement 
actions against businesses that support prostitution. You 
should get advice and support from legal counsel to 
pursue these options. 


20. Warning property owners about the use of their 
premises for prostitution. 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.71 

21. Redeveloping the area economy. Because street 
prostitution markets flourish under marginal economic 
conditions, economic redevelopment is often necessary to 
permanently eliminate street prostitution from the area. 
New businesses emerge to replace those that supported 
street prostitution. Economic redevelopment usually 
requires a substantial investment of government and 
private resources. Street prostitution may be displaced to 
even more vulnerable areas. 

22. Securing abandoned buildings. Street prostitutes and 
clients sometimes use abandoned buildings for sexual 
transactions. If rehabilitating or demolishing the buildings 
is not feasible, securing them can help reduce street 
prostitution and other offenses in the area.72 

23. Enhancing surveillance with improved lighting and 
CCTV. Improved lighting reduces the attractiveness of 
certain areas for street prostitution because it reduces 
the privacy prostitutes and clients seek to negotiate and 
complete their transactions.73 Motion-sensitive lighting is 
useful for secluded areas like alleys and doorways. CCTV 
can also deter some prostitutes or clients who want to 
avoid detection and simultaneously enhance the general 
publics perception of area safety, thereby drawing more 
legitimate activity there.74,  

 See Response Guide No. 4, Video 
Surveillance of Public Places, for further 
discussion of police use of CCTV. 


24. Providing trash cans. Providing trash cans for the 
proper disposal of hazardous and unsightly items (e.g., 
condoms and lubricants) can both reduce the public 
health hazard posed by the items and reduce the number 
of resident complaints.75 The extent to which this will 
work depends on prostitutes and johns willingness to 
use the trash cans and on placing them near where sex 
acts occur. 

Responses With Limited Effectiveness 

25. Conducting sweeps. Sweeps are large-scale arrest 
campaigns targeting suspected prostitutes, without the 
intent to prosecute. Sweeps have long been a police 
strategy to control street prostitution, particularly when 
they have had few legal alternatives for dealing with the 
problem, yet have been pressured to do something about 
it. There is little evidence that sweeps are anything other 
than temporarily effective at removing prostitutes from 
the street, and they do considerable harm to the criminal 
justice systems integrity. It is not uncommon for police to 
arrest innocent people during sweeps. 

26. Harassing and intimidating prostitutes. 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. 

27. Suspending or revoking government aid to 
prostitutes. Many street prostitutes receive government 
aid in one form or another (e.g., for housing, dependent 
children, unemployment insurance, and/or disability), 


but would not qualify for such if they reported their 
prostitution income. You might share arrest and 
intelligence information with government agencies 
providing the aid.76 The threat of losing government aid 
might compel some prostitutes to quit. On the other 
hand, it might only deepen the financial plight of some 
prostitutes, further compelling them toward prostitution. 
For this approach to be viable, adequate social services 
must be available to help prostitutes. If you use this 
response, you should take care not to unduly harm any 
dependent children. 

28. Establishing formal or informal red-light districts 
where street prostitution is tolerated. In most cases, 
the existence of red-light districts has not reduced the 
volume of street prostitution, the level of nuisance 
complaints, or the harm to prostitutes.77 Creating 
tolerance zones for street prostitution implies some 
official approval. As is true with respect to most vices, 
official disapproval has at least a marginal deterrent effect. 
In many jurisdictions, this response is not viable because 
of legal restrictions or public opposition. Most European 
countries have found that expanding the zones in which 
prostitution can occur legally is typically accompanied by 
an increase in activity outside of the approved zones, as 
sex businesses try to evade regulation and those women 
who are not suited for working indoors continue to work 
on the streets.78 

29. Legalizing and decriminalizing prostitution. The 
two most radical responses to street prostitution are 
legalization and decriminalization. Whatever their merits 
and drawbacks, neither approach is likely to be politically 
feasible in the foreseeable future in the United States, 
United Kingdom, or Canada. 

 Legalization implies that the 
government will regulate various 
aspects of prostitution, just as it 
regulates other forms of commerce. 
Decriminalization implies no 
government regulation. 

 Prostitution itself is not illegal 
in either the United Kingdom or 
Canada, as it is in most of the 
United States, but nearly all forms 
of soliciting prostitution on the 
street are illegal, so the net effect 
is substantially the samestreet 
prostitution is outlawed. Prostitution 
has been legalized in the Netherlands 
and recently decriminalized in New 
Zealand. In Sweden, selling sexual 
services is legal, but buying them 
is illegal. Some forms of indoor 
prostitution have been made legal 
in Victoria, Australia, but street 
prostitution remains illegal. The 
legalization of prostitution in several 
Nevada counties has not eliminated 
the problems associated with street 
prostitution in the cities of Reno and 
Las Vegas. 


Appendix: Summary of Responses to 
Street Prostitution 

The table below summarizes the responses to street 
prostitution, the mechanism by which they are intended to 
work, the conditions under which they ought to work best, 
and some factors you should consider before implementing 
a particular response. It is critical that you tailor responses to 
local circumstances, and that you can justify each response 
based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an effective strategy 
will involve implementing several different responses. Law 
enforcement responses alone are seldom effective in reducing 
or solving the problem. 

Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

Deterring Prostitutes and Clients 

1 20

Enforcing laws 
prohibiting 
soliciting, 
patronizing, and 
loitering for the 
purposes of 
prostitution 

Temporarily 
removes 
prostitutes and 
clients from the 
streets 

there are follow-
up programs to 
help prostitutes 
quit or switch to 
indoor venues, 
and enforcement 
is combined with 
other effective 
responses 

Strategy is expensive; 
has only a short-
term impact; may 
increase prostitution 
by displacing the 
problem to new 
locations, and 
by compelling 
prostitutes to work 
more to pay fines 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

1a 22 
Enforcing laws 
prohibiting 
prostitution and the 
solicitation thereof 

Temporarily 
removes 
prostitutes and 
clients from 
the streets; 
increases 
the costs of 
business; 
deters arrested 
clients from re-
offending 

a prosecution 
will result in 
meaningful 
sanctions against 
the prostitute, 
and the pool of 
potential clients is 
relatively small 

Strategy is expensive; 
difficult to obtain 
admissible evidence; 
jail time is usually 
limited or none; 
discourages 
prostitutes from 
calling police when 
they are victims; 
creates additional 
incentives to engage 
in prostitution to pay 
fines; prosecutors 
may elect not to 
prosecute; the 
population of 
potential clients is 
large enough that 
general deterrence is 
difficult to achieve 
solely by arrest 
strategies; arresting 
clients requires a 
sufficient number 
of female police 
officers; undercover 
assignment not 
popular among police 

1b 22 
Enforcing laws 
prohibiting conduct 
associated with 
prostitution and the 
solicitation thereof 

Deters 
prostitutes from 
soliciting and 
clients from 
searching for 
prostitutes on 
the streets, 
without 
requiring proof 
of actual sexual 
transactions 

a prosecution 
will result in 
meaningful 
sanctions against 
the prostitute, 
and the pool of 
potential clients is 
relatively small 

Legality (courts 
have struck down 
some such laws for 
being either vague 
or overly broad); 
the population of 
potential clients is 
large enough that 
general deterrence is 
difficult to achieve 
solely by arrest 
strategies 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

1c 22 
Intensively enforcing 
prostitution laws 
against prostitutes 
and/or clients for 
short periods 

Temporarily 
removes 
prostitutes from 
the streets; 
deters potential 
clients from 

there is media 
coverage, and 
the campaign 
is followed by 
changes to the 
environment 

Media coverage can 
have the opposite 
effect of promoting 
prostitution 
by advertising 
the location of 
frequenting the 
area 
where the street 
prostitution occurs 
prostitution strolls; 
may increase the risk 
of harm faced by 
prostitutes by forcing 
them to work in 
unfamiliar areas 

2 23 
Establishing a 
highly visible police 
presence 

Discourages 
both prostitutes 
and clients from 
negotiations 

it is followed 
by changes to the 
environment where 
street prostitution 

Labor-intensive; 
creates the 
perception that the 
area is unsafe 
occurs 

3 24 
Relaxing the 
regulation of indoor 
prostitution venues 

Gives street 
prostitutes 
some incentive 
to relocate 

street prostitutes 
are able to work 
indoors 

May be perceived 
as condoning 
prostitution; indoor 
venues are of serious 
indoors concern to police for 
their role in sexual 
exploitation of 
trafficked women 

4 24 
Enhancing fines/ 
penalties for 
prostitution-related 
offenses committed 
within specified 
high-activity zones 

Displaces 
the street 
prostitution 
market from a 
particular area 

it is followed 
by changes to the 
environment where 
street prostitution 
occurs 

Displacement may 
be to areas where the 
impact is even worse 

5 25 
Banning prostitutes 
or clients from 
certain areas 

Reduces the 
opportunities 
for prostitutes 
and clients 
to solicit and 
patronize 

there is adequate 
monitoring of bans 
and good physical 
descriptions of 
offenders 

equires legal 
authority; may 
displace prostitutes 
to new areas outside 
the prohibited zone, 
which, if remote, 
may prove more 
hazardous to them 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

6 25 
Using community 
justice panels and 
community service 
sentences in lieu 
of incarceration or 
fines 

Creates 
meaningful 
consequences 
for prostitutes 
and clients 
offending; 
consumes 
prostitutes time 

there is adequate 
monitoring of 
compliance 
with sentences, 
and community 
members are willing 
to serve on panels 

Requires monitoring 
by the court and 
corrections officials 

7 25 
Enlisting community 
members to provide 
surveillance or to 
publicly protest 
against prostitutes or 
clients 

Creates the 
impression that 
offenders will 
be constantly 
monitored 
and reported; 
increases the 
pressure on 
public officials 
to address the 

the community 
is willing to sustain 
protests and 
remain lawful, and 
police maintain 
supervision and 
oversight 

Risks of 
overzealousness 
(vigilantism); 
displacement to 
other locations; 
street patrols require 
committed leaders to 
recruit, organize, and 
mobilize members 
problem 

8 26 
Educating and 
warning high-risk 
prostitute and client 
populations 

Deters young 
people from 
getting into 
prostitution; 
discourages 
potential clients; 
education 
programs for 
arrested clients 
deter repeat 
offending 

there is evidence 
of the recruitment 
of prostitutes from 
target populations, 
the messages are 
carefully tailored to 
the target audience, 
and there are 
adequate resources 
to run education 
programs 

Young people 
at seriously high 
risk usually have 
several critical social 
problems that require 
attention if they are 
to be kept out of 
prostitution; costs of 
running programs; 
adequate deterrence 
may be achieved by 
any form of official 
intervention; schools 
do not target clients 
at highest risk of 
violence 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

Targeting Prostitutes 

9 28 
Serving restraining 
orders/civil 
injunctions against 
habitual prostitutes 

Effectively 
controls and 
deters the 
activities of 
large numbers 
of prostitutes 
working in 
a particular 

complainants 
are willing to file 
for court orders, 
and there are small 
numbers of chronic 
offenders 

Labor-intensive and 
costly to document 
people and activities; 
legality varies by 
jurisdiction 
area; conserves 
police resources 
by focusing 
on the most 
problematic 
offenders 

10 29 
Mediating conflicts 
between prostitutes 
and the community 

Keeps 
prostitutes 
away from 
the areas of 
highest citizen 
complaints, or 
from engaging 
in the most 

the community 
is willing to tolerate 
some level of street 
prostitution 

Difficult to get 
prostitutes to adhere 
to agreements 
offensive 
behaviors 

11 30 
Imposing curfews 
on prostitutes 

Restricts 
prostitutes 
working hours 

there are short 
periods during 
which street 
prostitution is most 
prevalent 

Requires a judicial 
order as a condition 
of bail or probation; 
requires monitoring 
by police or 
corrections officials 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

12 30 
Helping prostitutes 
to quit 

Provides 
prostitutes with 
support services 
to enable 
them to leave 
prostitution; 
health screening 
and education 
prevents 
the spread 
of sexually 
transmitted 
diseases 

programs are 
prostitution-
specific and easily 
accessible, and 
there are sufficient 
sanctions for 
noncompliance 

Street prostitutes, 
especially juveniles 
and those managed 
by pimps, are difficult 
to persuade; privacy 
considerations; 
prostitutes can be 
hard to reach and/or 
reluctant to accept 
treatment (e.g., 
for fear of losing 
custody of their 
children) 

13 32 
Encouraging 
prostitutes to report 
serious offenses to 
the police 

Improves the 
police ability 
to investigate 
serious offenses 
that might 
otherwise go 
unreported 
and/or 
unsolved 

police can 
establish a sufficient 
level of trust 
among prostitutes 

Prostitutes giving 
evidence against 
pimps increases 
the risks of violent 
retaliation 

14 32 
Helping prostitutes 
avoid dangerous 
clients and situations 

Reduces the 
risk of physical 
assaults to 
prostitutes 

police can 
establish a sufficient 
level of trust 
among prostitutes 

Police can be accused 
of condoning 
prostitution 

Targeting Clients 

15 34 
Exposing clients to 
publicity 

Shames clients 
to deter 
them from 
re-offending; 
discourages 
potential clients 

the community 
and media support 
public shaming, and 
most clients solicit 
from vehicles 

Media reluctance 
to publicize 
information deemed 
unnewsworthy; 
risks arousing 
suspicions against 
innocent people; 
legal restrictions; 
privacy concerns; 
the potential 
for geographic 
displacement; 
deterrent value is lost 
after first exposure 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If
Considerations
 
16 35 
Notifying those 
with influence over 
clients conduct 

Creates 
meaningful 
consequences 
for clients 
conduct 

clients are 
influenced by 
informal social 
controls 

The penalty (e.g., 
getting fired) may be 
harsher than some 
believe is fair 

17 35 
Restricting clients 
ability to drive 

Deters curb-
crawling 

most clients 
solicit from vehicles 

Legal challenges and 
restrictions; low rates 
of compliance with 
license suspensions 
and revocations 

Changing the Environment 

18 35 
Closing streets and 
alleys, diverting 
traffic, or regulating 
parking 

Increases the 
difficulty for 
clients to find 
and negotiate 
with prostitutes 

the community 
the changes affect 
supports them, and 
most clients solicit 
from vehicles 

Potentially costly; can 
harm residential and 
legitimate commercial 
traffic; may lock the 
problem in rather 
than forcing it 
out, by creating an 
inaccessible enclave; 
slowing traffic may 
be conducive to 
curb-crawling 

9 36 
Enforcing zoning, 
nuisance abatement, 
and business license 
regulations against 
properties used for 
prostitution 

Restricts the 
availability of 
locations for 
sexual activities; 
discourages the 
use of motels 
and hotels for 
prostitution 

sexual 
transactions take 
place on properties 
subject to 
regulation 

Civil law processes 
can be cumbersome 
and unfamiliar to 
police; requires 
support from 
government lawyers 

20 37 
Warning property 
owners about 
the use of their 
premises for 
prostitution 

Improves 
property 
owners capacity 
or willingness 
to prohibit 
prostitution-
related activities 
on their 
property 

sexual 
transactions take 
place on those 
properties 

Some property 
owners may feel they 
are being unfairly 
accused 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

21 37 
Redeveloping the 
area economy 

Promotes 
legitimate 
activity to 
displace 
illegitimate 
activity 

improvements 
will substantially 
change the 
conditions that 
allow street 
prostitution to 
flourish 

Costly in the short 
term; potential 
displacement to more 
vulnerable areas 

22 37 
Securing abandoned 
buildings 

Keeps 
prostitutes 
and clients 
from having 
private places 
for sexual 
transactions 

sexual 
transactions take 
place in abandoned 
buildings 

Costs of securing 
buildings; potential 
displacement to other 
locations 

23 37 
Enhancing 
surveillance with 
improved lighting 
and CCTV 

Improves 
the areas 
appearance; 
improves 
natural 
surveillance 
to deter 
prostitution 

lighting is 
inadequate, and 
sexual transactions 
take place in dark, 
secluded places 

Costs of lighting; 
may backfire 
by increasing 
perceptions of safety 
and drawing more 
activity to the area 

24 38 
Providing trash cans 

Encourages the 
proper disposal 
of hazardous 
items 

they are placed 
near where sexual 
transactions occur 

Must be emptied 
regularly; police 
may be accused 
of condoning 
prostitution 

Responses With Limited Effectiveness 

25 38 
Conducting sweeps 

Temporarily 
removes 
prostitutes and 
clients from the 
streets 

Undermines the 
criminal justice 
system and police 
integrity; the risks of 
arresting innocent 
people 

26 38 
Harassing and 
intimidating 
prostitutes 

Discourages 
prostitutes from 
offending 

Undermines 
police integrity; 
geographically 
displaces the problem 


Response No. 
Page No. 
Response 
How It Works 
Works Best If 
Considerations 

27 38 
Suspending 
or revoking 
government aid to 
prostitutes 

Encourages 
prostitutes to 
quit 

prostitutes are 
receiving significant 
amounts of aid 
without reporting 
prostitution 
income, and aid 
agencies are willing 
to take action 

Implications for 
dependent children; 
requires adequate 
social service 
follow-up; may have 
opposite effect of 
promoting more 
prostitution to 
replace lost income 

28 39 
Establishing formal 
or informal red-
light districts where 
street prostitution is 
tolerated 

Reduces 
nuisance 
complaints; 
increases the 
police ability to 
monitor street 
prostitution and 
related crime 

the community 
is willing to tolerate 
some level of street 
prostitution, and 
the red-light district 
can be adequately 
policed and will not 
attract additional 
clients from other 
communities 

Legality (ruled 
unconstitutional 
in Canada as a 
local option); the 
expansion of street 
prostitution out 
of the tolerance 
zones; lack of public 
support; ineffective 
in reducing nuisance 
complaints or harm 
to prostitutes under 
some conditions; 
implies that police 
condone prostitution 

29 39 
Legalizing and 
decriminalizing 
prostitution 

Legalization 
subjects 
prostitution to 
administrative 

Not politically 
feasible in 
foreseeable future 
in the United States, 
regulation United Kingdom, or 
Canada 


Endnotes 

1 
Goldstein (1990). 

2 
See Goldstein (1977) and Newburn (1999) for discussions of police 
corruption generally, and the special hazards of policing prostitution. 

3 
Benson and Matthews (1995); Hodgson (1997); Matthews (1993); van 
Gelder and Kaplan (1992). 

4 
Melrose (2003). 

5 
Maloney and Mobley (2002). 

6 
McIntyre (2002). 

7 
Cohen (1980); May, Edmunds, and Hough (1999); van Gelder and Kaplan 
(1992). 

8 
Romero-Daza, Weeks, and Singer (2003); Dalla, Zia, and Kennedy (2003); 
Kurtz et al. (2004); Penfold et al. (2004); Surrat et al. (2004). 

9 
Church et al. (2001); Penfold et al. (2004). 

10 
Kurtz et al. (2004). 

11 
Kennedy, Gorzalka, and Yuille (2004); Monto (2004); Hughes (2004). 

12 
Monto (2004). 

13 
Weitzer (2000); Brooks-Gordon and Gelsthorpe (2003a). 

14 
Monto (2004). 

15 
Brooks-Gordon and Gelsthorpe (2003b). 

16 
Hughes (2004). 

17 
Williamson and Cluse-Tolar (2002). 

18 
Home Office (2004); Williamson and Cluse-Tolar (2002). 

19 
Williamson and Cluse-Tolar (2002). 

20 
Cohen (1980). 

21 
Hubbard and Sanders (2003). 

22 
May, Edmunds, and Hough (1999); Sterk and Elifson (1990); Cusick and 
Hickman (2005); Cusick, Martin, and May (2003). 

23 
Forrest, Myhill, and Tilley (2005). 

24 
Matthews (2005). 

25 
Weitzer (1999); Hunter, May, and the Drug Strategy Directorate (2004); 
Hester and Westmarland (2004); Thukral and Ditmore (2003); Home 
Office (2006). 

26 
Benson and Matthews (2000). 

27 
Matthews (1997); Lowman (1992); Hester and Westmarland (2004); Hunter, 
May, and the Drug Strategy Directorate (2004); Home Office (2006). 


28 
Dodge, Star-Gimeno, and Williams (2005). 

29 
Brooks-Gordon and Gelsthorpe (2003a); Campbell 
and Storr (2001); Sanders (2005); Penfold et al. (2004). 

30 
Haringey Council (2004). 

31 
Weitzer (1999). 

32 
Eck and Spelman (1987); Sampson and Scott (2000); 
Benson and Matthews (2000); Lowman (1992); Larsen 
(1996); Getz (1996). 

33 
American Prosecutors Research Institute (2004). 

34 
Hill (2004); Moser (2001). 

35 
Weidner (2001); Buffalo Prostitution Task Force 
(1999); Weitzer (1999). 

36 
Hubbard (1998). 

37 
Home Office (2004); Home Office (2006); Hughes 
(2004). 

38 
Sagar (2005). 

39 
Forrest, Myhill, and Tilley (2005). 

40 
Campbell and Storr (2001); Brooks-Gordon and 
Gelsthorpe (2003a); Monto (2004); Van Brunschot 
(2003); Wortley and Fischer (2002); Wortley, 
Fischer, and Webster (2002); Hughes (2004); 
Fischer et al. (2002). 

41 
Weitzer (2000). 

42 
Hughes (2004); Victoria Attorney-Generals 
Prostitution Advisory Group (2002). 

43 
Wortley and Fischer (2002). 

44 
Campbell and Storr (2001). 

45 
Hunter, May, and the Drug Strategy 
Directorate (2004). 

46 
San Diego Police Department (1994); San Bernardino 
Police Department (1999). 

47 
Larsen (1996); Hester and Westmarland (2004). 

48 
Lowman (1992). 

49 
Hester and Westmarland (2004). 

50 
Expert Group on Prostitution, and Scottish Executive 
(2004). 

51 
Hester and Westmarland (2004). 


52 
Dalla, Zia, and Kennedy (2003); Cusick, Martin, and 
May (2003); Hester and Westmarland (2004). 

53 
McIntyre (2002); Dalla, Zia, and Kennedy (2003). 

54 
Home Office (2004). 

55 
Golding (1994); Buffalo Prostitution Task Force 
(1999); Sampson and Scott (2000). 

56 
Benson and Matthews (1995); Weidner (2001); Weitzer 
(1999). 

57 
Hester and Westmarland (2004); Cleveland Police, 
Middlesbrough Police District (2000); Penfold et al. 
(2004). 

58 
Sanders (2001); Sanders (2004); Kurtz et al. (2004). 

59 
New Westminster Police Service (2002). 

60 
Benson and Matthews (1995). 

61 
Canada Department of Justice Research Section 
(1989). 

62 
Getz (1996). 

63 
Benson and Matthews (2000); Buffalo Prostitution 
Task Force (1999). 

64 
Monto (2004). 

65 
Weitzer (1999). 

66 
Sampson and Scott (2000). 

67 
Matthews (1997); Larsen (1996). 

68 
www.renewal.net (n.d.); Hughes (2004); Home Office 
(2006). 

69 
Sampson and Scott (2000). 

70 
Weidner (2001). 

71 
Portland Police Bureau and Campbell Resources Inc. 
(1991). 

72 
Spelman (1993); Sampson and Scott (2000). 

73 
Sampson and Scott (2000). 

74 
Home Office (2004). 

75 
Hunter, May, and the Drug Strategy 
Directorate (2004). 

76 
Sampson and Scott (2000). 

77 
Benson and Matthews (1995); Golding (1994). 

78 
Bindel and Kelly (2003). 


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 (1995). Street Prostitution: 10 Facts in Search 
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Ekberg, G. (2004). The Swedish Law That Prohibits 
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Road Management Interventions.. Accessed June 22, 
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About the Authors 

Michael S. Scott 

Michael S. Scott is the director of the Center for Problem-
Oriented Policing, Inc. and clinical assistant professor at 
the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. He was 
formerly chief of police in Lauderhill (Florida); served in 
various civilian administrative positions in the St. Louis 
Metropolitan, Ft. Pierce (Florida), and New York City 
police departments; and was a police officer in the Madison 
(Wisconsin) Police Department. Scott developed training 
programs in problem-oriented policing at the Police Executive 
Research Forum (PERF). He was the 1996 recipient of 
the Gary P. Hayes Award for innovation and leadership in 
policing. He is a judge for the Herman Goldstein Award for 
Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. Scott holds a law 
degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelors degree 
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 


Kelly Dedel 

Kelly Dedel is the Director of One in 37 Research, Inc., a 
criminal justice consulting firm based in Portland, Oregan. As 
a consultant to federal, state, and local agencies, her research 
on the juvenile and criminal justice systems takes one of 
three major forms: 1) developing written tools to enhance 
practice or inform public policy; 2) conducting investigations 
of the conditions of confinement in juvenile correctional 
facilities; and 3) undertaking rigorous evaluations of various 
juvenile and criminal justice programs to determine their 
effectiveness. She has provided evaluation-related technical 
assistance to over 60 jurisdictions across the country for 
the Bureau of Justice Assistance. In this capacity, Dr. Dedel 
worked with a broad range of criminal justice programs 
implemented by police, prosecutors, public defenders, local 
jails, community corrections, and prisons. Dr. Dedel consults 
with the Department of Justice as a monitor/investigator of 
civil rights violations in juvenile correctional facilities, most 
often in the area of education. Among her other research 
interests are prisoner reentry, risk assessment and offender 
classification, and juveniles in adult correctional facilities. 
Prior to working as a consultant, she was a founder and 
senior research scientist at The Institute on Crime, Justice 
and Corrections at The George Washington University, and 
was a senior research associate at the National Council on 
Crime and Delinquency. Dr. Dedel received bachelor's degrees 
in psychology and criminal justice from the University of 
Richmond and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the 
Center for Psychological Studies in Berkeley, California. 


Recommended Readings 

 A Police Guide to Surveying Citizens and Their 
Environments, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1993. This 
guide offers a practical introduction for police practitioners 
to two types of surveys that police find useful: surveying 
public opinion and surveying the physical environment. It 
provides guidance on whether and how to conduct cost-
effective surveys. 

 Assessing Responses to Problems: An 
Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers, 
by John E. Eck (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of 
Community Oriented Policing Services, 2001). This guide 
is a companion to the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series. 
It provides basic guidance to measuring and assessing 
problem-oriented policing efforts. 

 Conducting Community Surveys, by Deborah Weisel 
(Bureau of Justice Statistics and Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services, 1999). This guide, along with 
accompanying computer software, provides practical, basic 
pointers for police in conducting community surveys. The 
document is also available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs. 

 Crime Prevention Studies, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 
(Criminal Justice Press, 1993, et seq.). This is a series of 
volumes of applied and theoretical research on reducing 
opportunities for crime. Many chapters are evaluations of 
initiatives to reduce specific crime and disorder problems. 


 Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing:The 
1999 Herman Goldstein Award Winners. This 
document produced by the National Institute of Justice 
in collaboration with the Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services and the Police Executive Research Forum 
provides detailed reports of the best submissions to the 
annual award program that recognizes exemplary problem-
oriented responses to various community problems. A 
similar publication is available for the award winners from 
subsequent years. The documents are also available at 
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij. 

 Not Rocket Science? Problem-Solving and Crime 
Reduction, by Tim Read and Nick Tilley (Home Office 
Crime Reduction Research Series, 2000). Identifies and 
describes the factors that make problem-solving effective 
or ineffective as it is being practiced in police forces in 
England and Wales. 

 Opportunity Makes the Thief: Practical Theory 
for Crime Prevention, by Marcus Felson and Ronald V. 
Clarke (Home Office Police Research Series, Paper No. 98, 
1998). Explains how crime theories such as routine activity 
theory, rational choice theory and crime pattern theory 
have practical implications for the police in their efforts to 
prevent crime. 

 Problem Analysis in Policing, by Rachel Boba (Police 
Foundation, 2003). Introduces and defines problem 
analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis 
can be integrated and institutionalized into modern 
policing practices. 


 Problem-Oriented Policing, by Herman Goldstein 
(McGraw-Hill, 1990, and Temple University Press, 1990). 
Explains the principles and methods of problem-oriented 
policing, provides examples of it in practice, and discusses 
how a police agency can implement the concept. 

 Problem-Oriented Policing and Crime Prevention, 
by Anthony A. Braga (Criminal Justice Press, 2003). 
Provides a thorough review of significant policing research 
about problem places, high-activity offenders, and repeat 
victims, with a focus on the applicability of those findings 
to problem-oriented policing. Explains how police 
departments can facilitate problem-oriented policing by 
improving crime analysis, measuring performance, and 
securing productive partnerships. 

 Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the 
First 20 Years, by Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of 
Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 
2000). Describes how the most critical elements of 
Herman Goldstein's problem-oriented policing model have 
developed in practice over its 20-year history, and proposes 
future directions for problem-oriented policing. The report 
is also available at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 

 Problem-Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing in 
Newport News, by John E. Eck and William Spelman 
(Police Executive Research Forum, 1987). Explains the 
rationale behind problem-oriented policing and the 
problem-solving process, and provides examples of 
effective problem-solving in one agency. 


 Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing 
Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving 
Partnerships by Karin Schmerler, Matt Perkins, Scott 
Phillips, Tammy Rinehart and Meg Townsend. (U.S. 
Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services, 1998) (also available at www.cops.usdoj. 
gov). Provides a brief introduction to problem-solving, 
basic information on the SARA model and detailed 
suggestions about the problem-solving process. 

 Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case 
Studies, Second Edition, edited by Ronald V. Clarke 
(Harrow and Heston, 1997). Explains the principles and 
methods of situational crime prevention, and presents over 
20 case studies of effective crime prevention initiatives. 

 Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety 
Problems: Case Studies in Problem-Solving, by 
Rana Sampson and Michael S. Scott (U.S. Department of 
Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 
2000) (also available at www.cops.usdoj.gov). Presents case 
studies of effective police problem-solving on 18 types of 
crime and disorder problems. 

 Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook 
for Law Enforcement, by Timothy S. Bynum (U.S. 
Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services, 2001). Provides an introduction for 
police to analyzing problems within the context of 
problem-oriented policing. 

 Using Research: A Primer for Law Enforcement 
Managers, Second Edition, by John E. Eck and Nancy G. 
LaVigne (Police Executive Research Forum, 1994). Explains 
many of the basics of research as it applies to police 
management and problem-solving. 


Other Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides series: 

1. 
Assaults in and Around Bars, 2nd Edition. Michael S. Scott. 
2001. ISBN: 1-932582-00-2 
2. 
Street Prostitution, 2nd Edition. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-01-0 
3. 
Speeding in Residential Areas. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-02-9 
4. 
Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes. 
Rana Sampson. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-03-7 
5. 
False Burglar Alarms. Rana Sampson. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-04-5 
6. 
Disorderly Youth in Public Places. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-05-3 
7. 
Loud Car Stereos. Michael S. Scott. 2001. ISBN: 1-932582-06-1 
8. 
Robbery at Automated Teller Machines. Michael S. Scott. 2001. 
ISBN: 1-932582-07-X 
9. 
Graffiti. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-08-8 
10. 
Thefts of and From Cars in Parking Facilities. Ronald V. 
Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-09-6 
11. 
Shoplifting. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-10-X 
12. 
Bullying in Schools. Rana Sampson. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-11-8 
13. 
Panhandling. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-12-6 
14. 
Rave Parties. Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-13-4 
15. 
Burglary of Retail Establishments. Ronald V. Clarke. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-14-2 
16. 
Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs, 2nd Edition. 
Michael S. Scott. 2002. ISBN: 1-932582-15-0 
17. 
Acquaintance Rape of College Students. Rana Sampson. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-16-9 
18. 
Burglary of Single-Family Houses. Deborah Lamm Weisel. 
2002. ISBN: 1-932582-17-7 
19. 
Misuse and Abuse of 911. Rana Sampson. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-18-5 
20. 
Financial Crimes Against the Elderly. 
Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-22-3 


21. 
Check and Card Fraud. Graeme R. Newman. 2003. 
ISBN: 1-932582-27-4 
22. 
Stalking. the National Center for Victims of Crime. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-30-4 
23. 
Gun Violence Among Serious Young Offenders. Anthony A. 
Braga. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-31-2 
24. 
Prescription Fraud. Julie Wartell and Nancy G. La Vigne. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-33-9 
25. 
Identity Theft. Graeme R. Newman. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-35-3 
26. 
Crimes Against Tourists. Ronald W. Glensor and Kenneth J. 
Peak. 2004. ISBN: 1-932582-36-3 
27. 
Underage Drinking. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-39-8 
28. 
Street Racing. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-42-8 
29. 
Cruising. Kenneth J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-43-6 
30. 
Disorder at Budget Motels. Karin Schmerler. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-41-X 
31. 
Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets. Alex Harocopos and Mike 
Hough. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-45-2 
32. 
Bomb Threats in Schools. Graeme R. Newman. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-46-0 
33. 
Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 
2005. ISBN: 1-932582-47-9 
34. 
Robbery of Taxi Drivers. Martha J. Smith. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-932582-50-9 
35. 
School Vandalism and Break-Ins. Kelly Dedel Johnson. 2005. 
ISBN: 1-9325802-51-7 
36. 
Drunk Driving. Michael S. Scott, Nina J. Emerson, Louis B. 
Antonacci, and Joel B. Plant. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-57-6 
37. 
Juvenile Runaways. Kelly Dedel. 2006. ISBN: 1932582-56-8 
38. 
The Exploitation of Trafficked Women. Graeme R. Newman. 
2006. ISBN: 1-932582-59-2 
39. 
Student Party Riots. Tamara D. Madensen and John E. Eck. 2006. 
ISBN: 1-932582-60-6 


40. 
People with Mental Illness. Gary Cordner. 2006. 
ISBN: 1-932582-63-0 
41. 
Child Pornography on the Internet. Richard Wortley 
and Stephen Smallbone. 2006. ISBN: 1-932582-65-7 
42. 
Witness Intimidation. Kelly Dedel. 2006. 
ISBN: 1-932582-67-3 
43. 
Burglary at Single-Family House Construction 
Sites. Rachel Boba and Roberto Santos. 2006. 
ISBN: 1-932582-00-2 
44. 
Disorder at Day Laborer Sites. Rob Guerette. 2006. 
ISBN: 1-932582-72-X 

Response Guides series: 

 
The Benefits and Consequences of Police 
Crackdowns. Michael S. Scott. 2003. ISBN: 1-932582-24-X 
 
Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime: Should 
You Go Down This Road? Ronald V. Clarke. 2004. 
ISBN: 1-932582-41-X 
 
Crime Prevention Publicity Campaigns. 
Emmanuel Barthe. 2006 ISBN: 1-932582-66-5 

 
Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety 
Problems. Michael S. Scott and Herman Goldstein. 
2005. ISBN: 1-932582-55-X 
 
Video Surveillance of Public Places. Jerry Ratcliffe. 
2006 ISBN: 1-932582-58-4 
Problem-Solving Tools series: 

 
Assessing Responses to Problems: An Introductory 
Guide for Police Problem-Solvers. John E. Eck. 2002. 
ISBN: 1-932582-19-3 
 
Researching a Problem. Ronald V. Clarke and Phyllis A. 
Schultz. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-48-7 


 
Using Offender Interviews to Inform Police Problem 
Solving. Scott H. Decker. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-49-5 
 
Analyzing Repeat Victimization. Deborah Lamm 
Weisel. 2005. ISBN: 1-932582-54-1 

Upcoming Problem-Oriented Guides for Police 

Problem-Specific Guides 
Domestic Violence 
Bank Robbery 
Drive-by Shootings 
Crowd Control at Stadiums and Other Entertainment Venues 
Traffic Congestion Around Schools 
Robbery of Convenience Stores 
Theft from Cars on Streets 

Problem-Solving Tools 
Risky Facilities 
Implementing Responses to Problems 
Designing a Problem Analysis System 

Response Guides 
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design 

For more information about the Problem-Oriented Guides for 
Police series and other COPS Office publications, please call 
the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770 or visit 
COPS Online at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 


For More InForMatIon: 

U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 

1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W. 
Washington, DC 20530 

To obtain details on COPS programs, call the 
COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770 

Visit COPS Online at the address listed below. 

e10062633 November 2006 
ISBN: 1-932582-72-X 

www.cops.usdoj.gov