Target johns, not prostitutes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/07/2010 (5913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a pie-in-the-sky solution to ending street prostitution in Winnipeg. Take away the demand and there’s no point providing the supply.

Yes, it’s simplistic. No, it’s not likely to succeed. But pulling johns off the streets instead of busting sex-trade workers is really the only way to go. The men — the guys who pay money to have sex with women and children — are the really rancid part of the equation.

Tuesday night, Winnipeg police, together with officials from the Child Protection Branch and officers from the vice unit, tactical support team, street crimes unit, missing persons unit, and Division 11 community support unit swarmed the Centennial neighbourhood. In part, they wanted to establish a strong police presence to let residents, sex-trade workers and johns know they were serious about cleaning up the streets.

They arrested four adult female sex-trade workers and two youths. One girl was 13. The other was 16. One john was arrested and had his car seized. He was also busted for driving without a licence.

Centennial residents are rightfully outraged at the open solicitation taking place in their back lanes and front sidewalks. It makes them feel unsafe. They worry about their children. They want their neighbourhood back.

Const. Jason Michalyshen wouldn’t say how many police officers were involved, only that there were "high police numbers." They pick up the underage girls, he said, "to try to give them the chance to make better choices."

The two girls were returned to their families. In this case, they had families.

If a john is arrested hiring a girl under 16 for the purpose of prostitution, he can be charged with sexual assault and sexual interference.

Michalyshen said the point of Tuesday night’s exercise was to get the word out. In other operations, the goal may be to arrest as many johns as possible.

Christy Dzikowicz, head of Child Find Manitoba, says johns looking for sex with children come from all walks of life and every part of the city. The canard that they’re all Volvo-driving guys from River Heights doesn’t hold water.

Creeps can now use websites such as craigslist to find what they’re looking for, she says. Technology is making it easier for perverts to find children.

She remembers police picking up a high-risk teen, who was holding a cellphone that wasn’t hers. The text message on it read: "Hey, I have a 13-year-old girl. Want me to send her up?"

How do you fight that? Cleaning up the street can’t touch these roaches.

Several years ago, I wrote a series called Innocence For Sale. It took readers through the murky underground of this city, where children as young as eight were put on the market, where johns were so bold they’d knock on kitchen windows to see if the girls were for sale. Parents had to walk their kids to school so they wouldn’t be approached. There was denial from many people at city hall, despite the fact many of these girls were turning tricks a block from 510 Main St.

The police are doing the best they can to clean up the streets. But they have to be helped by a citizenry who doesn’t look at a sex-trade worker and see a woman who made a choice.

Eight-year-olds don’t choose to trade sex for food, money or shelter because Grade 3 wasn’t working out. Thirteen-year-olds would rather not have several men a night performing sex acts on them.

Many of the older women were lured into the business when they were young teens.

If they can find some way to save the kids and women who are out there, hallelujah. First, they have to bust the johns, punish and embarrass them until they get the message they’re the criminals. Then, they have to find some way to make it stick.

This is not a victimless crime. These women aren’t choosing to be debased. These children surely are victims. Lock up the john, put their names in the newspapers and let them know our city has zero tolerance for creeps prowling the streets.

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca