Those refreshing words come from Commander Mike Crebs, of Portland’s East Police Precinct, in reference to the prostitution that plagues Southeast neighborhoods.
Last fall, 1,500 Portlanders signed a petition demanding the city reinstate the Prostitution Free Zone, an anti-prostitution enforcement policy that the city let expire after the ACLU complained it was unconstitutional and led to discrimination. Former Mayor Tom Potter appointed a committee (surprise!) to deal with the issue and one long year later, that committee will be back in front of City Council next week to present their findings.
I’ve got an article about the report in this week’s print issue, but Commander Crebs didn’t get back to me in time for the deadline. Too bad, because his insights are interesting. The report veers away from recommending stronger enforcement against prostitutes, like more arrests or steeper fines, instead saying the city should invest in prostitution counseling programs and especially housing for people trying to get off the street. Crebs explains the shift:
“We started out with enforcement because it’s the most immediate impact, it gets the most instant results. But we’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem. It’s about how the city wants to allocate it’s money and resources… many of these women don’t have a place to go where they feel safe. They may have a house they go into every single night, but it may be because their pimp is saying, ‘You can stay here if you walk for me.’ What we recommend, it’s nothing mystical. What we need is the political support to work with governments to figure out what these women need.”