PROSTITUTE POSTINGS CAUSE STIR

Peoria County State's Attorney Opposes 'Shaming' Arrested Hookers And
Johns Online, While Police Chief Defends Plan

PEORIA - The county's top prosecutor opposes Peoria's new policy of
"shaming" prostitutes and their customers by posting their arrest
photos on the Internet.

But Police Chief Steven Settingsgaard vigorously defended the plan
Tuesday in "an open letter to Peoria's prostitutes, johns and the
Journal Star."

Settingsgaard, however, said he will consider amending the policy
after a prostitute claimed putting her picture on the Web may help
her business.

In the letter, Settingsgaard said he is surprised at the "amount of
controversy" the project has generated and noted the idea came from a
Peorian whose neighborhood is plagued with prostitution.

"While it was not our idea, it was a good idea and we will pursue it
vigorously," he said in a two-page letter faxed to the newspaper. "We
will pursue it because it is the right thing to do and because we
were sworn to protect; not to protect criminals from the consequences
of their illegal behavior, but rather to protect the victims who
suffer for those criminals."

Last week, the city announced it will post mug shots and personal
information of people booked on charges of prostitution and
solicitation of a sexual act on the Peoria Police Department's Web
site. The policy, designed to deter prostitution and to publicly
embarrass those who participate, is to take effect sometime this month.

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said the "objectives (of
the project) are commendable," but he believes more bad will come
than good of posting the photos.

"I don't think the government should be in the business of public
humiliation in a one-size-fits-all," Lyons said Tuesday.

Asked about Lyons' reaction to the policy, Mayor Jim Ardis said,
"He's not going to impact city policy. I don't mean that in a
negative way. He can decide whether they're good arrests or not."

Third District Councilman Bob Manning was slightly more critical,
saying: "I think the city has to take the steps they believe are
necessary to try and rein in crime.

"I think we all have responsibilities," Manning said. "I'd like to
see his office prosecute a lot more cases than they do."

But Lyons said someone in high-profile or sensitive positions, like
pastors, teachers, corporate presidents and law-enforcement
personnel, would undergo much higher public notoriety than others
arrested on prostitution-related charges, which are misdemeanor
offenses. That, he said, will lead to "a mad scramble and fevered and
horrified effort by the person of profile to contact officials in a
'Dear God, don't do this to me,' " manner."

And though Lyons believes the response would be that nothing can be
done to help, if an official should offer assistance in the slightest
way, it could be viewed as unequal treatment or favoritism. That
could lead to felony official misconduct charges.

Also, embarrassment or guilt the person arrested would feel after
their picture is put online could cause the john or prostitute to
commit suicide, Lyons said, referring to past experiences of people
arrested from crimes of moral indiscretion.

Despite his disagreement with the "shaming" policy, Lyons said he
doesn't support the "coddling of criminals" and will not "obstruct
what the city is entitled to do."

"I may not agree with (the city) . . . (and) I'm not intending to get
in the way," he said. "It's a policy decision. I'm respectful of
policy decisions from other units of government, but it would not be
one I would make."

Lyons would not elaborate, only saying, "I would not put (the
individuals) up there (online) on arrest" before being formally
charged by his office.

Settingsgaard doesn't share that sentiment and, in his letter,
attacked the Journal Star's editorial opinion, issued last week. The
editorial agreed with much of Lyons' beliefs that posting pictures
online could destroy families, cost people their jobs and even lead
to suicides.

"I find it far more important to keep the sex trade off the streets
than I do keeping it off the police department's Web site,"
Settingsgaard said. "It is criminality that leads to these dire
consequences, not the act of holding criminals accountable."

For the johns, Settingsgaard put the blame on them for destroying the
city's neighborhoods by supporting the prostitutes.

"Am I mistaken, or is it your responsibility to protect your wives
and your children from this embarrassment?" he said. "You choose to
skulk around our neighborhoods and engage in illicit sex acts in your
cars, expose yourself to potentially deadly diseases and then carry
those diseases back to your homes. Yet somehow the police department
is endangering your family?

"Here is a novel idea. If your wife is not meeting your needs, try
meeting hers," Settingsgaard wrote. "It can do wonders. No wife at
home? Try finding a decent woman, whom you can love, cherish and
respect; and then make her your wife.

"If you aren't willing to put in that kind of effort, try a dinner
and a movie. Whatever you choose, take it off our streets. You have
become a cancer, and we are tired of it."

Settingsgaard said he empathizes more with the prostitutes, who are
"victims of abuse and casualties of poverty and the drug trade," but
he also lashed out at them for being part of the problem.

"The difference between you and your neighbors . . . is that you are
directly contributing to the destruction of your neighborhood while
they are trying to save it," Settingsgaard said. "The bottom line is
your neighbors should not have to suffer because of you, and I hope
that they will not tolerate your behavior on their streets."

In response to comments made by Julia, a self-described prostitute
who told the Journal Star last week that putting her picture online
would help customers know she is not an undercover cop, Settingsgaard
is considering revising the plan.

He could adopt a new strategy, like the Chicago Police Department's,
which posts only photos of johns.

Asked after the City Council meeting Tuesday night if the online
posting of pictures of johns and prostitutes would result in more
prostitution stings, Settingsgaard said, "I don't want to reveal all
our plans. It is my plan to eliminate the streetwalking and
prostitution (in the North Valley) of Peoria.

"I didn't come to Peoria to make friends and join the Country Club,"
he said. "I came to Peoria to make a difference. If that requires
that I be unpopular with certain segments of this city, I will be."

Journal Star reporter Jennifer Davis contributed to this story.