YOUNGSTOWN Officer wants to loosen prostitution-arrest law

Some South Side residents have threatened vigilante action against prostitutes, a councilman says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city police lieutenant wants city council to make it easier for police to make arrests under the city's ordinance banning loitering for purposes of prostitution.
Lt. Rod Foley told council's safety committee Tuesday that he'd like to eliminate from one part of the law the phrase that calls for police to consider whether the person in question is "a known prostitute or panderer." He called for replacing that phrase with a reference to the location being a public place with a reputation for prostitution.
He also called for eliminating from the legal definition of "a known prostitute or panderer" the specification that the person must have previously been convicted of a prostitution-related offense within the past year.
Foley said the changes are needed because it can be very difficult for police to verify previous convictions, especially when a suspect is transient, gives a fictitious name or may have been convicted of a prostitution-related offense in another jurisdiction.
The parts of the ordinance defining the loitering behavior as repeatedly beckoning to or stopping passersby or motorists would remain unchanged.
Penalty: Foley also called for raising the penalty classification for a second offense from a fourth-degree to a third-degree misdemeanor. "What we're trying to do is make it very unpleasant for these girls to operate in the city of Youngstown," Foley said.
Dana Guernieri, assistant city law director, said the law will pass the test of constitutionality as long as it identifies the offending behaviors and circumstances. "It's probably one of the toughest charges you have to prove, because you know what they're doing. I know what they're doing, but we have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.
Councilman James E. Fortune, D-6th, said he is deeply concerned about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases through prostitution. Some South Side residents are so upset about the prostitution problem in their neighborhoods that they have implied to him that they may take vigilante action, Fortune said. "You're going to find some dead prostitutes if we don't do something about it," he predicted.
'Johns': Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, asked whether more emphasis could be placed on arresting the customers of prostitutes, known as "johns," many of whom come from the suburbs, to reduce the demand for prostitutes' services and thereby drive them out of this community.
Foley said cracking down on the customers typically involves very labor-intensive sting operations, with a female decoy police officer posing as a prostitute and wearing a microphone to record conversations with the "johns" as evidence, and with eight to 10 other nearby police officers in unmarked cars to protect her and make the arrests.
Foley said he hopes rehabilitation can be offered to prostitutes suffering from drug addiction as an alternative to jail time.