Arresting prostitutes won?t actually keep them off the streets and community resources could be better spent, veteran Maryland Circuit Court Judge Vincent Femia said.
Annapolis City police arrested eight women on prostitution charges in a downtown sting Wednesday night. Annapolis police conduct the stings about every other month and charge about 50 to 60 people with prostitution every year, Annapolis police spokesman Officer Hal Dalton said. But Femia, a Prince George?s county circuit court judge, said prostitution stings are usually little more than good PR for a city.
“There are certain things the law can?t correct,” Femia said, adding that the law has unsuccessfully tried to correct prostitution “since the beginning of time.”
It?s not uncommon for prostitutes and drug dealers to usually occupy the same territory, and prostitutes arean easy arrest for police, “and it makes the stats look so good,” Femia said.
As a judge, Femia said he has heard two to three prostitution cases a week. “It?s been like that for years,” he said.
Officials need to decide whether it?s more important to “clean up” prostitution or to focus on other crimes, he added.
Dalton confirmed that most of the city?s prostitution arrests are made near public housing sections downtown and other “high-crime areas.” He said Annapolis residents don?t want prostitutes roaming the streets. “We get many complaints about it in the West Street area,” he said.
Because many of the women tried for prostitution are also drug addicts, the state often offers them a diversionary program where they can enter outpatient drug rehabilitation, said a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state?s attorney office. Others are prosecuted according to the charges.
Sidney Ford, executive director of the women?s outreach group You Are Never Alone in Baltimore, agreed that arrests are an ineffective way to keep women off the streets. She also said having an arrest record makes it difficult for former prostitutes to try to gain lawful employment.
