Big brother going viral--sheriff's office helps launch anti-prostitution App (legal, suspected, solution)

[wutitiz]

Sex-trafficking app to tip off police | Local News | The Seattle Times

A couple of King County (Seattle) sheriff's deputies and a Kiwanis group teamed up to come up with an app called 'Redlight traffic.' The idea is that if you see some suspected prostitution activity, you send in a tip, and cops will be able to access a database of tips.

As usual they claim to be targeting trafficking (slavery) but in reality that is a rare scenario in the US. Inevitably the real targets will be consenting adults.

Originally Posted by Seattle Times

“There are a lot of scenarios that don’t amount to a 911 call,” said Banks, a member of the sheriff’s Street Crimes Unit, which investigates prostitution-related cases. “I thought (the app) was a pretty clever way to see that gap and fill it in.”
A patrol officer isn’t going to respond to... a tip that an “obviously older man in a stereotypical ‘pimp car’ ” is riding around with a much younger girl, because those situations aren’t crimes, Banks said.
Through the app, though, citizens will be able to report their suspicions,

OK great, now some busybody sees a 30-yr old guy with a 20-yr-old girl in a Caddy, she notifies police. Or maybe she sees a white female with a black male.... A few minutes later, they get pulled over and grilled.

The comments are interesting. One poster says that he/she has seen girls showing too much cleavage and just KNOWS they were working girls, and now has a way to report them.

[rogead]

So now we have an app which essentially encourages people to spy on--and report--their assumptions about other people's sexual behaviors. This has nothing to do with addressing sexual trafficking or the exploitation of children, the two facades the anti-prostitution folks continually erect. This is just another way of involving third parties in the private personal relationships of others, and a back-door means of attacking consensual adult prostitution.

[remoddahouse]

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it and in the process you keep organized crime and kids out of it. Much better solution than an app.