OFFICIALS CRACK DOWN ON AREA PROSTITUTION

Another Public Uprising Over Prostitution, Another Police Sting.

But the usual complement of cops and news media on recent roundups has
included some new observers - officers with Alachua County Court Services.

"We are trying to get them involved on the front end so that they can
perhaps, from a probationary standpoint, make (a fair) recommendation to
the judge," said GPD Capt. Tony Jones. "Maybe the judge will at least put
some prescription in to help the prostitutes not turn around and engage in
the same activity as soon as they are released."

The revolving door of justice for a prostitute turns only slightly slower
than the cast of tricks she may land in a day.

Police respond to complaints by residents and businesses with stings -
either male cops soliciting prostitutes or women officers posing as them to
nab johns.

Prostitution is a misdemeanor and those arrested are typically released
within a few hours.

Prostitutes with long records are sometimes sentenced to a couple of months
in jail, but they are back to the trade as soon as they are released.

"Just putting them in jail doesn't accomplish anything. One client actually
called it being fattened up for the kill, because they come out of jail
more healthy and more attractive. It makes it easier for them to be a
prostitute," said Laura Callopy, a court officer for Alachua County Drug
Court. "Just being away from drugs for a few months doesn't kill the
craving. As soon as they hit the street they are back at the drugs."

Gainesville Police last year made 38 prostitution-related arrests - either
prostitutes or johns soliciting them. Most of the arrests were for johns.

This year, police have made more than 40 arrests.

Police say they will continue busting prostitutes and johns, but believe
they will never get a grip on the problem until the prostitutes get
drug-addiction treatment or their jail time is increased.

Help with addiction

Police again cruised parts of Gainesville last week on a prostitution
detail that was spurred by residents' complaints.

The first two women picked up by an undercover officer were driven to a
littered cul-de-sac in the new Cedar Grove II subdivision in the Duval
neighborhood and arrested. They both had crack or crack pipes - one made
from a glass tube typically filled with horoscopes or flowers and sold at
convenience stores, the other from a hollow section of a car antenna.

According to Alachua County court records, it was the first prostitution
arrest for both women, but police often catch chronic prostitutes.

For example, one local prostitute, a 42-year-old, was arrested on
prostitution and drug charges last month. Since 1996 she has been arrested
on five prostitution charges and 15 drug charges.

It's a sad existence made worse, police say, by the beatings, robberies and
other abuse the women suffer from customers or pimps.

"I actually feel good about arresting them and getting them in the system
because you might be saving them from harm, at least for a little while,"
said GPD Sgt. Louis Acevedo. "We need to get them in the jail but they also
need to be supported with the right resources like education and drug
programs. We do it for drug addicts who weren't arrested for prostitution,
and these women are drug addicts."

Other cities have come to the realization that addiction help is needed.

Tallahassee, for instance, is trying to get prostitutes in a program called
Community Court in which they would be required to get drug treatment.

"Our chief said we have to treat the problem, rather than just the arrest
itself," said Tallahassee police press secretary Scott Hunt. "We have to
get them drug counseling and an opportunity to get out of this lifestyle.
If they can get off drugs, I don't think they would continue to prostitute."

Drug Court dilemma

Alachua County Court Services oversees probation and parole as well as Drug
Court.

Drug Court is an 11-month pretrial diversion program. It includes
counseling and treatment. It requires regular testing for drug use. Charges
are dropped against those who complete it.

But it is open only to people who have been charged with non-violent
felonies. No one charged with a misdemeanor is eligible.

"The problem is right now, the prostitutes don't usually have drugs on them
because they use it right away. They have paraphernalia, which is a
misdemeanor," Collopy said. "They never pick up that felony so that we can
get them. I've had some women who are longtime users and prostitutes call
me from the jail and say, 'Please, please, please let me in Drug Court.'
But I can't take them without a pending felony."

Private drug treatment programs are available, Collopy said. But the
waiting lists are long and the prostitutes cannot keep focused enough to wait.

The situation could change if a bill introduced by state Sen. Rod Smith,
D-Alachua, is passed by the Legislature.

The bill would make prostitution and solicitation a felony on the third
offense.

Police and others don't believe prostitutes will be deterred if the crime
is a felony, but they added that felony charges could make prostitutes
eligible for programs such as Drug Court.

"It might be a blessing in disguise," said Assistant State Attorney Walter
Green. "The only way we can get people in Drug Court is with a felony, so
it would be a good thing in the sense that those individuals who found
themselves with the third strike might be a viable candidate for Drug Court
and get the underlying issues addressed."

But Assistant Public Defender Joan Larrick said turning prostitution into a
felony might not fly with the public on philosophical and financial grounds.

Larrick added that programs for drug treatment or job training could be
made available to prostitutes without making the crime a felony.

"A lot of people don't believe prostitution should be a crime," she said.
"A lot of this has to do with poverty, and drugs are an issue with that. I
think job skill programs might be more beneficial for some of these young
ladies that feel they are trapped and have no where to go with no job
skills. Perhaps we can get help for drug addictions through a job skills
program."

Hunt, from the Tallahassee Police Department, wonders whether Smith's bill
will pass a Legislature dominated by men since it also makes solicitation a
felony on the third offense. He noted that police have arrested a fair
number of legislators soliciting prostitutes.

Police said they will continue to arrest prostitutes and johns. Residents
and businesses in prostitution prone areas demand it. They say prostitution
makes a neighborhood trashy and unsafe, and that it lures a criminal element.

Soft spot for some

Ollie Gregory has worked at the Waffle House on SW 13th Street for 18
years. Prostitutes worked the street when she started working there, she
said, adding she has gotten to know a lot of them over the years.

Gregory and co-workers sometimes get aggravated by the prostitutes - they
try to rush into the bathroom to clean up after a trick, they harass
restaurant patrons and they try to beg for spare change or some food.

But the waitresses admit to a soft spot for some.

"You can kind of tell when they first start because they still have some
meat on them and their eyes aren't all sunken in," Gregory said. "The
oldest one I ever saw - she looked like she was 60 - was named Rose and she
was as sweet as she could be. Sometimes they'll come in to eat and pay for
it. And they usually tip, which is more than you can say for some customers."