That nine people were arrested for prostitution in a sting in June should bring no joy.
This latest roundup includes nine women. Three are listed as NCA — having no certain address: homeless. One provided an Enfield address. Another, Manchester. The remainder are Hartford residents. All of the arrests were made south of I-84.
Walking around the area in the days following these arrests, you would never know anything had happened. Street prostitution remained just as visible and prevalent as before.
HartfordData shows that since 2005*, over 900 arrests have been made for prostitution. In that same period, police have managed to only make around 70 arrests for patronizing prostitutes. No information was available for pimping, pandering, procuring, or whatever you’d like to call it. Maybe they post that data somewhere else. Maybe there is no data to post.
I have questions. Are prostitutes selling sex to themselves? Based on the arrest data, it would suggest that this crime occurs without clients.
While I understand how stings work, anyone who spends time in the neighborhoods must know that stings are wholly unnecessary in that the selling and buying can be observed taking place out in the open. Stand by the entrance to Colt Park on Wethersfield Avenue for ten minutes, any time of day.
Those profiting the most from street prostitution — the pimps and johns —are taking comparatively small risks, legally and socially. They are not likely to endure the public shaming that occurs when mugshots are published by some of the local media, and that seems to be the least depressing of consequences.
Meanwhile, we should be asking what happens after people are arrested for prostitution. Are these individuals provided with any resources that might help them make healthier choices for themselves? Are they asked if they have been subjected to abuse or coercion? Are they offered counseling? Job training? Maybe there are interventions, but the trade is still going strong.
It’s not pleasant to be in an environment where prostitution is undeniably present, especially when children are exposed simply by walking to school or visiting a park. But we have to ask if our solutions are actual solutions, or just tactics used to temporarily pacify the upset community.
Linda Pagani
Great points, all. Prostitution is illegal, and can’t exist without pimps and johns. So they should also be arrested, and their names, addresses, and mugshots published so we can all know who contributes to the degradation of our communities. Don’t just make the females take the fall, but then again, that’s how patriarchy works.
Allie
You are so right to ask this question, and you basically answered it. For over 10 years in Connecticut we’ve been jumping at every opportunity to get on the anti-sex-trafficking bandwagon, and we still don’t have a shelter for trafficking survivors. At a minimum, we should be prosecuting pimps and customers, and we’re not. The police are not social service providers (yet – unfortunately) and our local social service industry is more interested in preserving their piece of the grantmaking pie and duplicating services for self-perpetuity, not for solving social problems. Which leads me to conclude this is a lot of hot air dedicated to performative gentrification. As a former caseworker for trafficking survivors, I’m available to talk to organizations that really want to put themselves out of business by changing the social status quo.
Kerri Provost
Thanks for your feedback, Allie