Officers sending "Dear
John" Letters
Updated: Tuesday, 07 Jul 2009, 9:46 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 07 Jul 2009, 9:46 PM CDT
ESCAMBIA CO., Fla. - Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan admits that there is a prostitution problem in the area and he's doing all he can to put a stop to it. For the past three months, the Sheriff has been working on what are being called "Dear John Letters" to combat prostitution.
"This is portrayed too many times as a victimless crime but that couldn't be farther from the truth, and one of the reasons why we're focusing on this is really a two or three step approach. It's not just the sex trade, it's the drug trade, it's the fallout from the drug trade, domestic violence, abuse against the prostitute by their pimps, so there's a full host of things that are involved with prostitution," said Sheriff Morgan.
The way the "Dear John" Program works, is when someone is caught soliciting prostitution in a vehicle, the registered owner of that vehicle receives a letter in the mail telling them that their vehicle has been used in a prostitution crime.
"We had talked about sending letters to wives, significant others, spouses, and that sort of thing, but we found to stay within the legal parameters, we need to send it to the registered owner," said Sheriff Morgan.
Sheriff Morgan says he hopes the letters, which went in the mail on Tuesday, will also help cut down on the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
He says if you own a vehicle and get one of these letters saying that your significant other has been involved in this type of crime, you should see your doctor immediately.
***Thoughts?***My thoughs:
"I'm sure this will sound odd, but I think that prostitution is such a problem BECAUSE it is illegal. They can paint an ugly picture all they want but if it were a licenseable business regulated by the government, it would cut back on a lot of crime.
Hear me out; street pimping/hooking would be unnecessary, the regulation would stop the cycle of abuse(pimp or john to prostitute)and the spread of STDS by providing frequent testing and products to protect against diseases, it would help the economy by providing WILLING women(and men) with jobs and it would allow men(and women) who have rape fantasies, pedophilia, and other fetishes/paraphilia that are socially unacceptable a safe way to act out their fantasies.. Most often with severely mentally ill people, other than abuse, you see sexual repression.
If they'd found a healthy way to express themselves sexually early on they may have prevented the anger and hate they acted on. Sure the women employed may or may not LIKE the job(I doubt many macdonald's employees dig their gig), but some of us have insatiable sex drives, some of us are fantastic actresses and some of us just like money!
I've always kind of been offended at the fact that prostitution is illegal since I started being really interested in sex.. why can't I personally touch someone's life with my sexual talents and make money? I feel that due to the fact that women are generally who's in demand in this department that it was an early attempt to keep women down.
Men have always feared women, and we controll sex(for the most part, it's easier for us to have sex when we want it than it is for them.. we have higher standards, haha), add money to that & we're ten times as scary. I am a tad biased on this subject as I was raised by a woman who sold her body in many ways to support her family, but I feel like I have some good points.
The only thing that upsets me with prostitution is adultry. But, honestly, whether he's paying for it or not, I feel like a man's going to cheat if he wants, whether it's legal to pay or if he has to use craigslist or myspace to pick someone up."
Speaking of craigslist.com, a recent LA Times article depicts their efforts to crack down on prostitution.. last time I was on, there was no "Erotic" section.
