According to Montgomery News, on August 10, 2017, a detective in Lansdale arrested a woman for prostitution after soliciting her for sex through a website notorious for facilitating commercial sexual exploitation. The woman faces one count of prostitution, graded as a misdemeanor in the third degree, which indicates this is her first (or second) offense for prostitution.
Her arrest is the culmination of an undercover investigation that was sparked after Lansdale Police received a tip in late July about suspected prostitution taking place within the woman’s home. Montgomery News reports that according to the affidavit of probable cause, the tipster told police the prostituted woman went by the name “Jenna.” The tipster most likely also provided police with a photograph or descriptions of the woman’s appearance, because police were soon able to identify a commercial sex advertisement containing “Jenna’s” image, whereabouts, and contact information.
According to police, on the day of her arrest, the prostituted woman was contacted by the detective via text message. Montgomery News reports that the woman allegedly subsequently sent a nude photograph of herself to the detective and arranged to meet him at her home. Upon arrival to the prostituted woman’s home, Detective Oropeza entered the residence and proceeded to a bedroom where the woman allegedly offered to engage in a commercial sex act in exchange for $70. According to Montgomery News, a couple of minutes went by before other Lansdale police arrived on the scene. The backup officers reportedly also possessed an active search warrant for the woman’s residence.
The CSE Institute commends the Lansdale Police Department for their efforts to address prostitution-related activity in their community. After all, prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation are closely related; where one occurs, so does the other; there is no definitive way to untangle the concepts. That being said, based on the limited information we know from the Montgomery News article, we believe law enforcement can adopt a more effective approach to combat commercial sexual exploitation. We encourage law enforcement to utilize investigative tactics that target the demand for commercial sex.
Consider this approach in economic terms: targeting the “supply” (or prostituted persons) is a dead-end due to displacement; supply is driven by “demand” (sex buyers). (To read more about why targeting the demand for sex is a more effective means of combatting commercial sexual exploitation than focusing on arresting prostituted persons, read our policy paper.) In this situation in Lansdale, the police engaged in an undercover investigation that led to the arrest of one individual – a prostituted person. Whereas, the same tip police received about “suspected prostitution,” occurring at a particular location could have resulted in potentially more than one arrest of individuals buying sex. This is called a “reverse sting operation”. After all, both selling and buying sex are equally illegal in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Actions to reduce or prevent against the latter should be given equal deference in the eyes of authorities.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.