Recruiting for hooker patrol
One of the biggest reasons there are less prostitutes in Seminole Heights is because Old Sem Hts. and SE Sem Hts had organized Neighborhood Watch Vehicle Patrols that disrupted the business activity of the prostitutes. This combined with the fact that police engage in the same tactics also. Both patrols work together and patrol each others neighborhoods
Well as noted below in an message sent out today on SE Sem Hts email list we are getting an increase in prostitution activity.
"It's been a long time since we've had any email discussion about hookers (primarily the b/m transgenders who are the most aggressive). There was a brief time where we (along with OSH vehicle patrol) minimized their presence and definitely infringed on their "peak hours"....but that time is over. They are out in full force again as early as 12-12:30am and as late into the morning as 7am. Sherry and I went out Friday night from 12:30 to 3:30 and saw 8 of them.
So I'm sending out this email to ask for more volunteers to participate in Vehicle Patrol. You can go as little or as much as you'd like; drive or be a passenger; patrol evenings, middle of the night or early mornings. I will tell you it is a very enlightening process. If you think the prostitutes don't affect you then consider this...I saw one prostitute on his way to work walking in front of my house and he was coming from within the neighborhood (not outside). Another started walking down Frierson towards the park. Many of them walk inside a few blocks off Nebraska to get picked up and dropped off. They probably know the neighborhood better than you! I actually think patrolling is fun at times. I realize some of you probably think I'm nuts but I find it a very interesting study of human behavior (not to mention a GREAT lesson in fashion). For those concerned about safety you should know we always patrol with a partner and stay far enough away from the hookers to avoid confrontation. If anyone is interested in patrolling you can email me or contact Sherry Simons (head of the Vehicle Patrol)........
By the way, I wanted to give a big thanks to Corporal Leistl who was out there Friday/Saturday night while we were out. He was bugging them almost as much as we were!.
If you are interested in participating and do not live in SE Sem Hts you are welcome to ride along or join the SESH patrol us or you could become a member of the Old Seminole Heights Vehicle Patrol. Email me and I will forward the email to the appropriate patrol.
8 comments:
SESH is in District 3 and OSH is in District 2. The divider is Hillsborough avenue for the districts.
District 3 has the disadvantage of including Ybor, which means on weekends officers are often diverted down there. You also have a problem with officers ignoring prostitutes as they drive by them. I'm not sure why as we don't have that issue in District 2.
When OSH patrols, we often patrol SESH and OSH. We are seeing more hooker activity in our area, but they are all hookers that are on their way home. Many of them will walk from SESH through OSH and then over the river into Sulfur Springs. Some of them get hotel rooms on Nebraksa (all of those are in OSH) and stay the weekend.
As part of OSH, I patroled last Friday morning from 4am to 6am. We saw 7 individual prostitutes in SESH often working in teams. They started to quit around the time commuter traffic picked up. Also, based on past experience, I believe the johns are unaware they can find hookers at that hour as there weren't many circling around. That'll change, though, if SESH doesn't resume patroling during busy hours.
I wish I could, but my schedule won't allow it.
I did call the police on a hooker near my home on Saturday around 9pm. I was sick to see a hooker actually working Central Ave. between Hanna and Sligh. The cops responded pretty quickly, but she had already been picked up.
I am a OSH resident, south of Hillsborough. We are in Police District 3. I have noticed a difference in the District 3 officers and the District 2 officers that attended the OSH Crimewatch meeting last month. The D2 officers seem to take greater ownership of the area.
It may be unfair to the D3 officers as they have to deal with Ybor and the other high crime areas to the south.
I will be joining the crime patrol!
Also, we need to let people know to pay more attention in the day time. I had someone try to break in my place this morning, while I was in my home office. They must have thought I was out of town b/c my mail was hanging out of my mailbox from yesterday.
You need to know that this weekend is the pornography convention in Tampa. Yup, the pornogrpahy convention. I suspect it will draw some really interesting people and we need to be sure we have crime patrols out.
Porno = Crime? That's a big leap.
What, if anything is being done by local agencies to rehabilitate the people working as prostitues? Not to downplay the concern I have for myself and my neighbors, but it would be nice to try to get more to the root of problem. I'm new to the neighborhood, so maybe there is something going on that I don't know about?
Scott can answer the rehab question better than I, so I'll leave that part be.
Roughly 80% of all hookers that get caught do it again. Mostly this is because all the reasons they started doing it in the first place (poverty, addiction, insanity, whatever) still exist when they're through rehab. The hookers we see on Nebraska in SESH are primarily black, male transvestites. In OSH we see more female addicts (crack ho's). The black transvestites (AKA "BTV") are higher on the hooker food chain and scare the crack ho's away. Once you get the BTV's to leave, the crack ho's move in. You've got to get them to leave next. Also, you'll notice a huge drop in young men on bicycles in your area when the hookers leave.
Roughly 20% of johns that get caught do it again. And this is where the real opportunity is. OSH started the hooker patrol in 2002 and quickly learned that going after the prostitutes doesn't work. We could herd them South or North easy enough (hence the other name "Ho-down"), but they just came back. However, when we targeted their johns we saw better results. Writing down tag numbers, shining bright lights on the John as he chats up the hooker, and taking photos made it hard for the johns to be anonymous. They went elsewhere to find their hookers.
I would be surprised if there is any city anywhere that was able to greatly reduce or eliminate prostitution through rehab.
Several years ago, at the request of Seminole Heights residents, Tampa Crossroads Inc., started prostitute and John's treatment programs.
http://www.geocities.com/dbanghart/prostitution
www.Tampacrossroads.com
P.R.I.D.E. & J.A.D.E. Programs
In August of 2001, Tampa Crossroads, Inc. began offering two community based prostitution treatment, intervention, and diversion programs in Hillsborough County called the P.R.I.D.E. (Prostitution Redirection Initiative- Diversion and Education) and J.A.D.E. (Johns Awareness, Diversion, and Education). These programs are designed to provide treatment and education to individuals who have been arrested for solicitation of prostitution or for those individuals who work in the prostitution trade and wish to take on a new lifestyle. The goal of, P.R.I.D.E. and J.A.D.E., as in all of our programs, is to assist clients in becoming law-abiding, productive members of our community. We do this by helping them develop drug-free lifestyles, to find and maintain appropriate employment, to improve their skills in accomplishing life's tasks, and to identify and correct errors in thinking which support criminal behavior.
The PRIDE and the JADE Programs consist of psychoeducational group or individual counseling sessions. We employ guest speakers to educate the clients on issues related to health concerns, the socioeconomic effects on society, and the personal impact this behavior has on the prostitute and the john. What separates these programs from the vast majority of Prostitution Diversion classes found around the country is in how we interact with the clients. From the names of the programs through the curriculum, we treat each client with respect and choose not to rely on scare tactics and a shame based philosophy to create a change in behavior. The ultimate goal of the PRIDE and the JADE Programs is to provide tools to help clients make healthy and responsible choices in all areas of their lives.
Referrals to the P.R.I.D.E. and J.A.D.E. Programs come from the courts, probation officers, police officers, friends, family members, clergy, and self referrals.
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