Title

Feature article about Portland's efforts to rid the city's streets of prostitute

Authors

Connie Pacillo

Source

Casco Bay Weekly

Date

1-21-1999

Pages

10, 11, 13

Abstract

Feature article about Portland's efforts to rid the city's streets of prostitutes and those who cruise Parkside and other areas hoping to buy sexual favors. According to police statistics, a decade after Portland began its war on prostitution, arrests for soliticiting are down from a high of 250 a year in the mid 1980s to 60 in 1998. The number of women working the streets has also decreased from double digits in the '80s to only a handful today. Police know prostitution is still prevalent and that it has just gone underground in response to a 1981 john's law and a 1996 anti-cruising ordinance. But with about 56,000 requests for police help last year for a variety of crimes, prostitution hasn't been a top priority and funds devoted to the effort have diminished from $100,00 a year to $6,000 a year. Meanwhile, the sex trade that withered on the street is thriving in places like escort services listed in the Yellow Pages and the Internet.

Subjects

Prostitution

https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1999/3/

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