“That 2002 prostitution sting was one of more than 20 conducted in an undercover investigation of the Gold Rush and three other Tampa clubs. It led to the arrests of dancers on misdemeanor prostitution charges and later, club managers on racketeering and prostitution-related charges. The investigation took two years. It involved using nearly two dozen undercover officers to hang out in strip clubs. It took more than 800 hours of manpower and almost $23,000 in pay. Another $1,987 went for other costs, like getting into clubs and buying drinks. Yet most of the dancers were released from jail shortly after their arrests and sentenced to probation, charged small fines or credited with time served. The state declined to pursue charges against several of the more than 20 dancers arrested. In June, the case of the first club manager to go to trial ended in acquittal. The jury found former Pink Pony manager Dewayne Allen Levesque not guilty on all six counts. And last week, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Debra Behnke tossed out a Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office prostitution case, saying detectives and their informant violated the woman’s rights because they didn’t arrest her until after she started performing oral sex on the informant. Critics say that’s proof such sex investigations are a waste of law enforcement’s time and taxpayers’ money.” —St Petersburg Times (US)

Let’s not mince words. Police officers are paid relatively little to put their lives on the line and to protect the public from all kinds of scumbags. When you live in a place like New York, you constantly have this impressed on you. Ever see two beat cops have to wrestle a stinky homeless guy wearing urine-covered rags? It’s a thankless job. End of story. So if you were a cop, and you had the opportunity to give up pounding the pavement to work on a nice juicy assignment like a prostitution sting, what would you do? Tussle with the bums? Or hang out in the strip bar, copping a feel or two at taxpayer expense?

Exactly. You know what you’d choose. And that’s what prostitution stings amount to — it’s not about law, it’s about entertainment. True, politicians sometimes pressure cops to bust hookers to get local civilian groups off their backs, but otherwise cops harrass hookers and strippers and adult entertainers just because it’s more fun than rounding up winos. You can hardly blame them, since law enforcement is such grungy, thankless work. And yet, at the same time, if this is true — if cops do conduct prostitution stings essentially for fun — then it’s also an abuse of power. Check out the following snippet of dialogue from the court case that inspired this news article:

Attorney Lauro: Where is it written down in the Tampa police department rules and regulations that it’s okay to touch the pubic region of a suspect?

[Officer] Tuvell: It’s been a standard that we have gone by. The girls, in order to make sure that you’re not a policeman, will ask you to do certain things. Touch me here. Touch me there.

Lauro: So what you’re telling us is that police officers can touch a woman’s breast?

Tuvell: Yes.

Lauro: Touch a woman’s pubic area?

Tuvell: Yes.

Lauro: And they’re being paid by the city of Tampa, correct?

Tuvell: Yes.

That says it all, doesn’t it? No man abhors the scourge of prostitution so much that he would fail to find the allure in the thought of having the taxpayers buy him a few drinks and a touchy-feely lapdance. Which is one of the many reasons prostitution should just be legalized already. Legalizing prostitution won’t necessarily mean that women won’t be exploited, but at least they wouldn’t be exploited anymore by on-duty cops.

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