Hawaii law lets police have sex with prostitutes

Associated Press

HONOLULU

Honolulu police have urged lawmakers to preserve an exemption in Hawaii law that lets undercover officers have sex with prostitutes during investigations. But they won’t say how often — or even if — they use the provision.

The notion has shocked advocates and law-enforcement experts on the sex trade.

“I don’t know of any state or federal law that allows any law-enforcement officer undercover to ... do what this law is allowing,” said Roger Young, a retired FBI agent who has trained vice squads around the country. “Once we agree on the price and the sex act, that’s all that you need. That breaks the law.”

This year, state legislators moved to revamp Hawaii’s decades-old law against prostitution. They toughened penalties against pimps and those who use prostitutes. They also proposed scrapping the sex exemption for officers on duty.

But Honolulu police said they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act. Otherwise, they argued, prostitutes would insist on sex to identify undercover officers.