Read the whole story at NBC Action News…

Prostitution Sting Nets 27 Arrests
by Keith King

The Independence police department has done this before and they will most likely do it again.

They have conducted prostitution stings in the past, but none they say as successful as the one last weekend.

Between Thursday and Saturday, investigators contacted people posting on line ads on popular websites like Craigslist and Backpage.

They arrested 13 men for patronizing and 14 women for prostitution. Investigators say two of the women were 5 and 6 months pregnant.

Surprise, surprise.Read more at Fox4KC.com…

Prostitution Bust Shocks Upscale Neighborhood

A 20-year-old Northland woman is in trouble for allegedly running a prostitution business out of her home, and police and residents say that they are surprised that it was happening in their neighborhood.

A woman police have identified as “Nikki Devine” was arrested Wednesday morning at her $400,000 Northland home where she lived with her two children. Authorities have not released the woman’s name and picture pending formal charges.

Police allege that the woman’s upscale address served as a selling point for her online solicitations.

“The neighborhood up north probably put some people at ease to come up to see her,” said KCMO Police Sgt. Brad Dumit. “It just appears to be a traditional escort service, illegal prostitution activities going on inside the house.”

Read the whole story at NBC Action News…

Kansas City Community Battles Prostitution
by Larry Seward

There are plans to shut down prostitution on Independence Avenue. A group of residents want offenders banned and hit with felony charges if they come back.

Along Independence Avenue, ‘women of the night’ work all hours of the day. The area boasts a historic district, scenic byway, museum, and parks. However, Adam Schieber said the northeast area is known for drugs, crime and prostitution.

“I think the whole city knows that it’s often the butt of many jokes,” Schieber said.

He and Scott Wagner are two of many fed-up residents. As president of Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association, Schieber hears it all, even from his next door neighbor.

“At noon on a weekday, they chased off a john and prostitute out of a back alley behind her house,” Schieber said. “We get issues like the brought up all the time.”

They believe police need help from the community. So, the neighborhood associations are proposing several ideas to city, county and state lawmakers. One proposal is called Stay Out Of Areas of Prostitution and Drugs, abbreviated SOAP and SODA. The proposal creates drug and prostitution-free zones. Offenders caught in these areas would face new felony charges.

Read the whole story at KCTV…

Shots Fired After Craigslist Meeting
Man Arrested At Overland Park Apartment Complex

Police said a man’s decision to find some late-night entertainment on Craigslist nearly cost him his life.

Overland Park police said a man arranged to have a prostitute visit him at his apartment. But the night ended in gunfire when the prostitute’s friend shot several times into the man’s apartment, officers said.

Overland Park police Officer Jim Weaver said the victim met a woman through Craigslist, and they’d had a sexual relationship in the past.

Weaver said that neighbors heard them involved in a lewd conversation Friday night, so they called 911.

“She was most likely there to provide her services to him again,” said Weaver.

Weaver said that officers heard gunshots when they arrived.

He said a friend of the woman’s confronted the man at his front door. The man closed the door on the man and the woman, and then the man apparently walked downstairs and fired up at the victim’s window, narrowly missing him, Weaver said.

Officers arrested the man and ticketed the woman for alleged prostitution.

Every once in a while a working girl is on the receiving end of a very stiff criminal sentence.  Read the whole article at The Kansas City Pitch…

A walk with a former prostitute, after her five-year sentence
By David Martin

Bob Beaird, the Jackson County prosecutor from 1999 to 2002, brought felony charges against a few persistent offenders. A felony charge came with a prison sentence of up to five years.

Beaird, now a judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, says the get-tough initiative caused a stir on Independence Avenue and other streets where prostitutes worked. “I said, ‘Let’s see if we can put more pressure on them,’” Beaird tells me.

The Prosecutor’s Office didn’t keep a rec­ord of the five-year sentences it sought and obtained. I get the sense that it wasn’t a large number. Off the top of his head, Beaird was able to remember the name of one woman. That offender, now age 41, is currently on parole for second-degree robbery.

Another “known prostitute,” as the police refer to a veteran hooker, received a five-year sentence in 2002.

I recently enjoyed a $16.42 date with her.

…

I pull up to a house in south Kansas City that has been cut up into apartments. A middle-aged woman who outweighs me by 50 pounds is standing on the porch.

First stop is a convenience store on Prospect Avenue. Ginger (a pseudonym she chose) requests Bud Light Lime. I buy two 22-ounce bottles. For lunch, I suggest Gates. “Oh, Lord,” Ginger says, “Gates is too rich for my blood.”

Eventually, Ginger begins to relax a little. A funny, intelligent woman begins to emerge. Still, my new friend operates on a different frequency. She mentions that she has bipolar disorder.

…

Ginger says she grew up in the projects. Her mother worked at the post office. She says she got into prostitution while attending the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She liked the money. She thought of becoming a teacher, but eventually streetwalking became a career.

“There was money in this town in the ’70s, honey,” she says.

Ginger worked the main corridors of prostitution — Main Street, Troost Avenue, the West Bottoms. She was a pioneer of sorts. “See, I was one of the first bitches to start working on Independence Avenue, in ‘81.”

Ginger worked alone. “I never had a pimp. A pimp is a poor man. Sell his ass, just like I sell mine.”

For protection, she relied on her wits. She left for Oklahoma City when, in 1988, the bodies of prostitutes who worked Independence Avenue began to turn up in the Missouri River.

Violence was a constant threat. “When Terry Blair [a serial murderer captured in 2004] was out here killing the prostitutes, I wasn’t getting in the car,” Ginger says. “I’d get in the car with old men. Well, shit, I ain’t no motherfucking fool. This is my hometown. I was born and raised here. The serial killer wasn’t an old man.”

Ginger says she traded exclusively in oral sex. “I didn’t have intercourse, just blow jobs. I used condoms. I put a rubber on and get busy.” For her, the plague of the ’80s wasn’t AIDS — it was crack. Ginger says she didn’t use hard drugs. But crack addictions led other prostitutes to drop their prices to $5 and $10.

“Prostitution used to be a big business in this town,” Ginger says. “Since crack come out, it’s no money. A person might as well get a Social Security check or go to the soup kitchen or get a job. There’s not no money in this town since crack came out.” Ginger holds prostitutes with cocaine addictions in low esteem. She calls them “crackitutes.”

LE in Kansas focuses on the street walking scene!  The Kentucky Post reports…

Covington Police Cracking Down On Prostitution

It’s a dangerous job, but police in Covington are cutting back on a crime that affects the entire community.

Undercover officers are posing as prostitutes to catch interested buyers.

Sergeant Kevin Sumner says these missions are important to the city and he wants people to know his officers aren’t taking prostitution lightly.

“It makes a big impact on the city. We have a lot of people that live and work here and they like the quality of life and that’s the reason we do this,” said Sgt. Sumner. “To improve the quality of life for the citizens that live and work here.”

On Monday night it took the undercover officer just minutes on the street before police made their first arrest.

Sumner says on an average night they arrest up to 10 people.

“We usually end up with quit a few arrests and it usually slows down the activity in the area for quit a while after we’ve done a detail like this,” said Sgt. Sumner.

On Monday night police were focused on people wanting to buy services from a prostitute, however, they often focus on the prostitutes themselves.

A look at one of the ‘John Schools’ rising all across the USA, and some insights on how the word’s oldest profession hurts just about everybody.   Read the whole story at The Kansas City Star…

‘John school’ shows men how prostitution hurts women, communities, themselves
By JOE LAMBE

Before trying to hire a prostitute, consider this: You could find yourself in “john school.”

For six hours you’ll hear reformed prostitutes, neighborhood leaders and health professionals talk about how you prey on damaged women, trash communities and imperil your health.

Lenexa, a city known for busting johns, recently started sending the men to the Kansas City school, which is run by Veronica’s Voice, a group that tries to help prostitutes find other careers. Kansas City and Wyandotte County send offenders there as well.

The quiet local effort is part of an emerging approach in the fractious debate over how best to limit the harm caused by paid sex. Some countries legalize it, some jail the women, and some go after the men.

Sweden jails johns while providing social services to help prostitutes leave the business. The United Kingdom is considering that as well.

In the United States, researchers say, prostitutes are arrested and jailed far more often than customers. But some experts support the Swedish approach, and john schools are spreading.

At the local john school, students come in from all social strata, said Kristy Childs, a founder of Veronica’s Voice.

“We have gotten leaders of churches. We’ve gotten CEOs of companies,” she said. “We’ve got to do something about demand.”

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