Photos of Prostitutes’ Customers Should Be on TV, Bernson Says

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson proposed Tuesday that the Police Department be allowed to publicize the names of people who patronize prostitutes and that the city broadcast their pictures on its cable television station.

Bernson’s motion notes that prostitution has been “a continual plague” not only for the LAPD but for retail business areas and even residential neighborhoods. Noting the recent scandal in which actor Hugh Grant made international headlines when he was caught with a hooker, Bernson said cracking down on prostitution would be easier if “johns” were subjected to the same treatment as the offending prostitutes.

“It takes two to tango,” Bernson said. “They’re equally guilty, and by God, I think it’ll keep them from having this type of abuse. The hookers get their names published. The businesses get their names published, but the people who patronize them don’t get published unless they’re movie stars. Maybe this would help.”

Earlier this year, the City Council approved a similar plan to release the names of convicted customers of prostitutes along Sepulveda Boulevard. Bernson’s new proposal would expand the program citywide.

The program resurrects an idea that had a brief run 13 years ago, when two newspapers agreed to publish the names but a judge ruled that addresses could not be included. In Long Beach, the Press-Telegram has published a monthly list of convicted johns since 1994, and police officials there said earlier this year that arrest levels stayed constant despite the program.