[Raiderman]

That stretch is always particularly busy with hookers. A friend of mine played a show one time at Golden Palm (yes, the boarded up old casino.. long story for another time), and I had to run and get cigarettes for my wife. I was propositioned a total of 5 times between the Golden Palm and the gas station.. 3 times by females, 1 time by a male, and 1 time by a cross between the 2.. good times, good times

[von949]

There were at least 20-30 "undercover cops" posing as prostitutes this morning. No wonder the Sheriff couldn't get approval for more cops in the city.

[yellowsnow]

Getting busted for prostitution usually involves a sting operation or a 'John' who is willing to press charges for some reason. Maybe he was rolled or something. To convict someone you have to witness the 'Hooker' offering to perform sexual acts for money. And money has to change hands. Usually that means they have to set it up so the 'Hooker' propositions an officer to get the kind of evidence that will get a conviction. Prostitution is usually a victim-less crime. Services are offered to a willing buyer and everyone is happy.

I'm not saying it's right but that's the way it is. Hookers and Johns have rights too. It is not illegal to walk down the street in a short skirt or wave at cars. If it was, you could just pile everyone into a paddy wagon 100 times a day. There is no way you or I can say who is or isn't a Hooker. I was at the Cosmo late one night and 3/4 of the women there looked like they could be Hookers. A whole lot of regular people look different when they are in Vegas. It's part of the fantasy we promote to tourists. People wear clothes here they wouldn't wear in Cedar Rapids.

We have a limited number of LEO's and they are busy with trying to protect the public from 'real' crime. Even traffic enforcement is probably higher on their list than rousting hookers. Every few years there will probably be a push to get the hookers off the streets. They just go underground for a while and as soon as the push is over they will be back out there. The hookers are just women trying to make a living. As far as I'm concerned, the men buying sex should be prosecuted just like the hookers.

The cops see these women every day for months at a time. Believe me, they know who is a hooker. But knowing it and being able to prosecute are 2 different things. Sure they probably could find a way to arrest all of them but what does it accomplish to have a jail full of hookers and no room for armed robbers and murderers? Even cops have to pick their battles.

[Raiderman]

I like to play the "Is it a hooker or just a desperate chick" game at strip bars... Almost as fun as "Spot the Tranny"

[EA]

I would love to see the police waste more time on victimless crime while ignoring thefts, traffic accidents, murder, and you know, crimes with victims.

Potheads? Hookers? Leave them be.

[von949]

I feel that the only way to eliminate the pimps and child sex slaves in this city(or drastically reduce it) is to legalize prostitution. This is where I stand on this particular issue. But as far the arguement of "you do t know if they're prostitutes or not" is silly. Undercover cops and self respecting women don't flash vagina, butt crack or breasts to passing traffic.

[C_A_Braun]

I don't know if metro operates this way or not but with most large agencies cops are assigned specific duties and those are the duties that they perform.

For instance motorcycle cops are pretty much exclusively assigned traffic patrol duties. They are going to watch for traffic violations and respond to accidents (that require police responses) and the like. They are not going to be dispatched burglaries or murders.

Crime cars are going to be sent to the burglary calls and generally will not deal with traffic issues.

Homicide cops deal with murders and vice cops deal with prostitutes and gang cops deal with gangs and child victim cops deal with crimes against children etc.

This is why you might often see some ******* on his cell phone driving next to a patrol car and chances are they are not going to be stopped because it is not necessarily that cops job to stop the cell phone holder. However you put that guy next to a motor cop and the odds go up very quickly that there will be a traffic stop in that guy's near future.

[von949]

So there are no Jack of all trade cops?

[BBMW]

A lot of assignments require specialized skills, equipment, and/or procedures. Cops can be moved around between squads as manpower is needed. But a lot of times, they need the right setup to make the kind of arrest they're targeting.

For instance, a cop who is on traffic patrol will have some sort of calibrated speed measuring device (radar lidar, vascar, calibrated speedometer, etc.) If they ticket someone, but don't have the equipment to prove the speed, if the victi, er, driver challenges the ticket, it can easily be dismissed.

Originally Posted by von949

So there are no Jack of all trade cops?

[EA]

Originally Posted by von949

self respecting women don't flash vagina, butt crack or breasts to passing traffic.

There's a difference between women that don't respect themselves and prostitutes....