Exposing the Clients of Oldest Profession

One had asked a prostitute for “megasex.” Another had offered to pay for the pleasure of sucking a woman’s toes. Both men were more than disappointed--they were arrested.

But that was not the end of their troubles. The charges against the men--along with their names, ages, races and hometowns--were broadcast on a telephone recording for all to hear.

The hotline was set up by the Westport Crime Prevention Commission, a citizens group in Kansas City’s popular Westport nightspot area.

The anti-crime crusaders have enlisted a simple weapon--a dose of public shame delivered via telephone--in their battle to inhibit the world’s oldest profession. By humiliating customers, or johns, caught in the act and arrested, they hope to cut the demand for paid sex.

“I would think the guy who wanted to suck the officer’s toes would be real embarrassed,” said Roy Johnson, the commission’s executive director.

“We are not making a moral statement on prostitution. It’s been around for thousands of years, and it will be with us as long as man is around. What we’re saying is: We don’t want prostitution on the streets where we live.”

The hotline coincides with a new police policy of mailing letters to the homes of johns who were arrested. The letters document the offenses and provide information on the risks of contracting AIDS and other diseases.

“As the word is getting around, several of the johns have begun asking about the letter. They’re not so much worried about being arrested as they are about the letter being sent to their house,” said police Sgt. James Corwin.

“One of the first things out of the john’s mouth is usually: ‘Is my wife going to find out?’ or ‘Who else is going to know about this?’ ”

Johnson said he has listened into a few calls to the hotline.

“They’d be real quiet for the most part until a specific name was read, and then you’d hear, ‘Oh God,’ ” he said. “I’m sure there are some spouses calling in. If a spouse calls the police, they won’t tell them if their husband was arrested, but they’ll give them the number of the hotline.”

Communities across the country have tried various approaches to the vexing problem of prostitution.

But Tom Behrens, executive director of The Knight Ministry in Chicago, said his group tries to “establish a relationship of trust with prostitutes” and persuade them that theirs is an “unhealthy lifestyle.”

Workers and volunteers walk the streets and go into bars to provide prostitutes with condoms or information about AIDS and other health risks.

Another approach was tried by Joe Mele, former commander of the police vice unit in Orlando, Fla. Officers there would advise johns that an area had been hit by a rash of muggings by pimps.

The Westport hotline recalls a similar gambit tried by Mayor Edward I. Koch in the early days of his administration in New York City. Koch went on radio to read the names of accused johns.

The Westport group decided to set up the hotline because it couldn’t get newspapers to publish names of those arrested for patronizing prostitutes.

The Kansas City Star, for instance, said it doesn’t publish the lists partly because the people haven’t been convicted.

“Arrests don’t mean a person was guilty of anything. In fact, most arrests do not result in convictions,” cautioned Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union for Kansas and western Missouri.

There have been no legal challenges to the hotline, although Johnson said the commission has received angry calls from “agitated” men who didn’t leave their names.

While no one expects the public shame campaign to eliminate prostitution, police say it may be having an effect.

“I don’t know how to measure it other than we stop seeing some of the johns,” Corwin said. “We don’t have too many repeats.”