THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210816
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
Having already launched a police crackdown on prostitution, the city on Thursday announced more plans to step up its fight to run prostitutes and their customers out of town.
Under orders from the City Council, the city attorney's office on March 1 will begin actively prosecuting prostitutes and ``johns,'' pushing judges to sentence offenders to the maximum jail time and fines.
``We're just absolutely going to declare war on it,'' Councilman W. Randy Wright said Thursday.
Wright unveiled the plans to members of the Mayor's Ocean View Committee, an advisory group that has been lobbying for tougher enforcement against prostitution-related crimes, which have posed problems along Ocean View's Bayfront resort strip. The Huntersville section of Norfolk along Church Street is another problem area, officials say.
``What we're trying to do is to make it as tough as we possibly can,'' Wright said.
In 1995, the latest year in which figures were available, Norfolk reported 350 arrests for prostitution and related vice crimes. That was more than a quarter of the 1,270 prostitution-related arrests statewide that year, according to statistics compiled by Virginia's Uniform Crime Reporting Office.
Because of personnel constraints, only in rare cases has either the city attorney's office or the commonwealth's attorney become involved in prostitution or other misdemeanor offenses in General District Court.
In most cases, the arresting police officer has been the only official on hand in the courtroom, while most prostitutes and johns are represented by an attorney. Too often, officials say, repeat offenders are given a minimum fine and are quickly back on the street.
Having a city attorney on hand to present the case to a judge is an effort to secure stiffer sentences, particularly against customers, and to send a message that the city means business, officials said.
Maximum punishment for most prostitution-related crimes now ranges from six months to a year of jail time and a $2,500 fine, city officials said.
``This is an effort to get rid of prostitution in Norfolk - period,'' Deputy City Attorney Andre Foreman said. ``We're talking about a whole change in mind-set and the dedication of resources.''
The effort carries a price tag, if only for the time deputy city attorneys will put into the cases, Foreman said.
City Attorney Philip R. Trapani said that he is unsure of the financial impact at this point but that he thinks the current staff in his office can handle the extra work.
The city's rate of prostitution offenses is about eight times the statewide average, said Virginia Del. Thelma S. Drake, R-Norfolk, who has been pushing for tougher state laws against prostitution. In the region, Virginia Beach had the second-highest number of arrests in 1995, with 122.
Drake applauded the city's latest move to stem the practice.
``It's going to have a tremendous impact,'' Drake said. ``It shows the city recognizes it as a problem and is looking into new ways to solve it.''
The Virginia House of Delegates' Courts of Justice Committee has agreed to study several bills that Drake introduced during this session of the General Assembly, including elevating prostitution to a felony and requiring at least a year of jail for anyone convicted of prostitution more than once.
Norfolk police in December began a crackdown on prostitution in East Ocean View, launching an undercover ``sting'' operation during one weekend that led to six arrests for prostitution and 23 arrests of men on various charges involving illicit sex.
Residents, however, say that sweep, while effective, in some cases has just moved the activity to other locations. They hope the city's latest efforts to beef up prosecution will do more than shift crime to another part of the city.
``They have to break the cycle,'' said James Janata, an East Ocean View resident and member of the Mayor's Ocean View Committee. ``I think the whole city is tired of the negative image and is taking steps to repair that.''
KEYWORDS: PROSTITUTION