Every Tom, Dick and Harry checks `johns' site

[Jack_Maehoffer]

By David Heinzmann
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 23, 2005



http://www.chicagopolice.org/ps/list.aspx


The Chicago Police Department's new Web site set up to shame men arrested for soliciting prostitutes is gathering the sort of attention the department had hoped for.

Police did not start counting hits on the site until 10 a.m. Wednesday, but by 9 p.m. the counter had tallied more than 47,000 visits to the site, police spokesman David Bayless said. The department also has been fielding an avalanche of media interest from all over the nation, he said.

The city announced Tuesday that police had begun posting the names, mug shots and arrest information of men arrested for soliciting prostitutes. The intention is to humiliate them before their spouses, children, neighbors and employers, Mayor Richard Daley said.

The department had already posted the names of prostitution arrests on its Web site, but it did so with little fanfare.

Police plan to update the site every day. By Wednesday afternoon, there were more than 180 photographs of men on the site.

Most were residents of Chicago, but some were from suburbs, including Glenview, Hinsdale, Arlington Heights, Burbank and Stone Park. Police said they would send notices to the hometown police departments of the non-Chicagoans arrested.

Old photos will be rotated out as new ones are introduced, police said.

Several other cities have tried similar approaches to shaming customers of prostitution. Akron uses a similar Web site. Denver posts information about people convicted of soliciting on a public access cable station. Oakland posts the photos of convicted people on billboards.

Kansas City, Mo., suspended the practice of posting prostitution arrests because statistics showed it had no effect on prostitution arrests.

 

[Jack_Maehoffer]

Marion State Prison Inmates:

Look like sheep when compared to these hoods, I mean johns. I wonder if these losers were on a street work release program?

 

[daengman]

Many of the members on this board are on a work-release program. They go to work, then after work they go get a release.

 

[pervert7]

im in a rage!!! Wouldnt these fucking (sorry) advertisements, public access spots, billboards be better off with Wanted posters on them??? Seriously this country is by far out of control. How about posting pictures of REAL criminals who HAVENT BEEN CAUGHT YET!!!! I really dont know how long I can continue to live in this Country.

 

[pervert7]

srry double post..

Do you think anyone can find an ***** address that works ? I want to contact the gov.. Here's the ***** i wish to send. All the ones on the chicago pd website get a mailer-daemon return..



im in a rage!!! Wouldn't these advertisements, public access spots, billboards and website's be better off with Wanted posters on them??? Seriously this country is by far out of control. How about posting pictures of REAL criminals who HAVEN'T BEEN CAUGHT YET!!!!
Maybe a wanted picture of a rapist, murderer, etc...This is a waste of tax payer dollars and a violation of civil rights..Do you really think it will stop a john from getting another hooker somewhere down the road?? It's also funny how all the john's just happen to be majority Spanish. I would bet my left nut you wouldn't post a picture of a Chicago Politician who was busted. It's funny, when the republican convention came to nyc last summer, the Hookers where lined up and ready for the boom in business..They were flying in from all over the country! Go Figure!!!

 

[vermeer]

it's too much effort trying to catch real criminals. especially when every nigger in a do rag looks the same. wouldn't you rather eat donuts and engage in petty extortion of small business owners ?

 

[Yankee Curse]

it's too much effort trying to catch real criminals. especially when every nigger in a do rag looks the same. wouldn't you rather eat donuts and engage in petty extortion of small business owners ?

Would you like to apologize now for your offensive ethnic slur? Or do you feel that since you've insulted every ethnicity now there's nothing wrong with what you're doing?

Your statement also implies that all MOC are criminals, all MOC look the same, all do rags look the same, all cops eat donuts and extort small business owners, and all cops are lazy. You're quickly losing any remaining credibility.

A cop's orders come from the higher-ups. Blaming cops for what they do is like blaming the McDonald's drive-thru attendant for too much fat in the fries. But I'm sure that won't stop another thousand similar future posts from regurgitating the same frustration.

 

[fumpton]

welcome back vermeer. some of us were wondering where you've disappeared to.

 

[JIMYDR]

My picture came out okay.

 

[Jack_Maehoffer]

My picture came out okay.

Which One? this week or last?

 

[justlooking]

[never mind]

 

[Rokin]

A cop's orders come from the higher-ups. Blaming cops for what they do is like blaming the McDonald's drive-thru attendant for too much fat in the fries.

Ridiculous.
Cops do all types of things which most higher ups would not condone, liking verbally and physically attacking people they don't like and shoving broomsticks up people's asses etc.
Cops are away from the precinct, and their supervisors, most of the time and have far more ability to do what they want than a McDonalds attendant serving burgers and fries under the watchful eyes of a manager.

 

[Thorn]

im in a rage!!! Wouldnt these fucking (sorry) advertisements, public access spots, billboards be better off with Wanted posters on them??? Seriously this country is by far out of control. How about posting pictures of REAL criminals who HAVENT BEEN CAUGHT YET!!!! I really dont know how long I can continue to live in this Country.

Frankly I think this kind of thing is moronic, and a potential liablity.

Making info available to the press from public documents is one thing. The fall back against liabiltiy is the first amendment. But when the department itself publishes the information and the mayor is stating that the purpose is to humiliate and embarass the individuals before "family, neighbors and employers", and none of these individuals has been convicted yet...

Most of these people look like there are without means. I predict that the first time someone with means gets arrested and posted on that site, and then gets a good lawyer and beats the rap, the follow-up lawsuit is going to cost the city millions.

 

[Bandaid]

Thorn is right. The city's going to get in a lot of trouble over posting the pictures of people who haven't been convicted. They're fair game once convicted. "So-and-so was convicted on August...." is a statement of fact.

I'll bet 99% of the arrests were street busts.

 

[Bandaid]

Ridiculous.
Cops do all types of things which most higher ups would not condone, liking verbally and physically attacking people they don't like and shoving broomsticks up people's asses etc.
Cops are away from the precinct, and their supervisors, most of the time and have far more ability to do what they want than a McDonalds attendant serving burgers and fries under the watchful eyes of a manager.

When a cop puts a plunger up an arrestee's ass, that's misconduct and a big problem for the department. When a cop's unit is assigned to do prostitution busts, that's their job. Are you saying cops are going out and doing prostitution busts against their supervisors' wishes? Are police departments busting hobbyists against the wishes of their mayors? Please.

Crime is at historic lows. Shootings by cops and excessive force incidents are down. Get a new script. I wish I didn't have to worry about getting busted in the course of the hobby, but I chose to do something I know is illegal and there isn't much to say if I get caught at it.

 

[Rokin]

When a cop puts a plunger up an arrestee's ass, that's misconduct and a big problem for the department. When a cop's unit is assigned to do prostitution busts, that's their job. Are you saying cops are going out and doing prostitution busts against their supervisors' wishes? Are police departments busting hobbyists against the wishes of their mayors? Please.

Crime is at historic lows. Shootings by cops and excessive force incidents are down. Get a new script. I wish I didn't have to worry about getting busted in the course of the hobby, but I chose to do something I know is illegal and there isn't much to say if I get caught at it.

Yankees' comments about cops was generalized, not limited to cop's busting john's for soliciting sw's's.
Apparently you have not had the fun of being stopped by a cop for no fucking reason and then being poked and cursed at.
Street cops do what they want to whom they want and unless you have a video camera rolling you can't prove a thing.
Its only a script to you because you have not experienced it.

 

[westside]

Yankees' comments about cops was generalized, not limited to cop's busting john's for soliciting sw's's.
Apparently you have not had the fun of being stopped by a cop for no fucking reason and then being poked and cursed at.
Street cops do what they want to whom they want and unless you have a video camera rolling you can't prove a thing.
Its only a script to you because you have not experienced it.

when you are out in the street with no cameras rolling... All's fair game.... That's why you gotta always be polite to the police...
You open up your piehole and start poppin shit..

You'll get that broomstick up your ... with no KY.....