Using decoys armed with remote audio systems and aided by “arrest teams” and undercover officers, the Police Department, over three days last month, made 195 arrests and seized 55 vehicles in what police officials called Operation Losing Proposition.
An analysis of the arrest data provided by the police shows that the crackdown spanned all five boroughs, on dozens of street corners, in 28 precincts. …
The concept behind Operation Losing Proposition has been a staple of police work for decades. But this time, as it was carried out Jan. 12 through Jan. 14, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly sought to have officers focus not on supply but on demand, by arresting the clients, or johns.
…
“It is not a sound policy,” said Audacia Ray, 31, director of the Red Umbrella Project, a nonprofit group that assists prostitutes, who believes the street trade will never fade. “I don’t think we’ll see a big drop in prostitution because of these arrests.”
—
As Other Crimes Recede, Police Crack Down on Street Prostitution - NYTimes.com
1. I didn’t copy it here because I don’t want to keep the language in circulation, but the lede of this article is horribly transmisogynistic and refers to “men dressed as women” and also creates a lurid picture of street work. I emailed Al Baker, the reporter who interviewed me, first thing this morning after I read the piece, but have not gotten a response and the lede is still the same. It’s important to speak out about this horrendous “reporting” on transgender women. I encourage folks to email him: albaker@nytimes.com and email the corrections address too: nytimes@nytimes.com. The best thing to do is critique the language they used and offer the correct terminology.
2. All the stuff I said about structural economic injustice, of course, didn’t make it into this piece, just the quote above. Specifically, when I was asked about why police stings don’t reduce prostitution, I said that its largely because the arrests don’t change the economic situations of the people doing the work. Sex work is treated as a crime, and we Americans loooove arresting criminals, but the supply side of the sex industry is driven by economic imperatives. Sex work that is done by choice or circumstance is work, and when you arrest sex workers you arrest workers trying to make ends meet, just for doing their job. Furthermore, if you arrest people who are trafficked into the sex industry and don’t want to be there, you’re just further traumatizing them - and often not even getting them services!
(via audaciaray)
