Prostitution Curbs
* With all respect to Glenn Ackerman of the Los Angeles Police Department, who is quoted in your Dec. 18 story regarding Heidi Fleiss, he created an impression that is not consistent with the facts.
The LAPD does arrest persons who wish to be customers of prostitutes. Through the years the Hollywood Division of LAPD has had female officers walk on Sunset Boulevard. When a person approaches them and solicits an act of prostitution nearby officers are alerted and the person is arrested. A prominent professional athlete can attest to the effectiveness of this ongoing campaign. I tried to get the media to publish or announce the names of these arrestees. Unanimously, the media declined.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has had an important role in the anti-prostitution campaign. Through the help of some of its members the chamber raised $18,000 to purchase a computer for the Hollywood Vice Squad that enabled officers to instantly identify persons arrested for prostitution. Cooperating with the chamber, John Cappalletti, Heisman Trophy winner and former Los Angeles Ram, provided the software for a program that drastically reduced prostitution in Hollywood.
BILL WELSH, President Emeritus
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
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