OTTAWA -Caresse Ley
The number of prostitution charges in Ottawa is on the rise after the police service increased its focus on john sweeps.
John sweeps aim to arrest prostitutes’ clients. Inspector Chris Rhéaume of the Ottawa Police Service said it has been easy to find the johns.
“We put out female police officers who act as prostitutes,” he said. “Basically they go out and the johns come up to them, they solicit them for business and Bob’s your uncle and they get arrested.”
Prostitution charges jumped 36% between 2011-12, from 19 arrests to 53. Prior to this spike, arrests were dropping consistently – 50 prostitutes were arrested in 2009, 31 in 2010 and 19 in 2011. The development emerged from an analysis of Ottawa crime trends data from 2009-12.
While it is difficult to say if a decrease in prostitutes caused a decrease in their arrests, it is certain that more johns are being arrested now than before. The majority of the charges laid in 2012 were against men soliciting the services of a prostitute, said Rhéaume.
Prior to 2012, the police focused on arresting prostitutes themselves, rather than the johns. However, the Ontario court decided in early 2012 to decriminalize organized prostitution. This means that the Ottawa Police Service can now only arrest prostitutes soliciting customers on the street. Pimping is still illegal, but can be difficult to detect, especially now that private prostitution houses are allowed.
Ontario’s decision is being appealed by the federal government in the Supreme Court. A ruling was expected in June, but has been delayed until December.
The Ottawa Police Service was not the only law enforcement agency to change its strategy to target prostitution as a result of the court case.
“Most police services stopped doing prostitution sweeps and we started doing john sweeps,” said Rhéaume. “You’re going to see an increase in prostitution [charges] because we’re charging more johns at this point.”
Some arrested johns are eligible for “john school,” a restorative justice program that aims to educate them about the negative consequences of prostitution.
But Rhéaume said prostitution is not as troubling in Ottawa compared to other cities, but that prostitution remains an difficult problem.
He added that the number of arrests is not representative of the number of prostitutes or johns in the city.
“There are oodles. The police only catch a small portion,” he said.
Now, controlling prostitution is even more complicated than before. While organized sex shops are legal, not every shop where sex is happening fits that criteria.
“Prostitution is only a small piece of the puzzle. We have bathhouses, we have shops that they’re having sex in. All these things are rampant,” said Rhéaume.
Even in places like Amsterdam where prostitutes can openly soliciting customers, there is more to the story, said Rhéaume.
“There’s still an underground prostitution ring going on. It’s like anything. If I can buy a pack of cigarettes at the store for $12 and at a black market for $4, where are you going to buy it?” he said.
Even though prostitution is legal to some degree in Ontario, the seedy underworld Rhéaume described still exists. Pimping remains an issue and has been a hot topic in Ottawa recently. Three teenage girls were charged with running a local prostitution ring, allegedly pimping out other teenage girls. Two pleaded guilty in September.
While Canadians wait for a decision on whether the Ontario ruling will be overturned, Rhéaume said Ottawans can play an active role in curbing local prostitution.
“They can report it. I’m sitting in front of my computer and I have a hundred emails of people reporting prostitution to me,” he said. “The more complaints that you have in regards to an issue the more the police are going to look at it.”