In 1997, I was in the Southern District station when police brought in both prostitutes and johns who had been arrested in a sting operation on Patapsco Avenue (still one of the city's biggest problem areas for the trade). I overheard this wonderful comment from one of the women, to a man who invoked his right to remain silent:

"If you wouldn't proposition us, none us us would be here."

City police for years debated whether to target men, or women, or both. The women are easy targets; the men are more difficult, and require dangerous stings with undercover officers such as Marketti. But women viewed the arrests as simply the cost of doing business. Going after the men, police thought, would disrupt their lives, end their marriages and sometimes cost them their jobs, and it would have a greater impact. Former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke wanted to publish the names and photos of every man convicted of prostitution, but gave up on the idea when he discovered that so few men who were arrested were actually found guilty that it was useless. In six months, the entire list consisted only two names. 

Over the weekend, Julie Bykowicz wrote a story about the bust of a suspected brothel in Butcher's Hill, in a home in the middle of nice neighborhood near Patterson Park. Most arrests are of prostitutes working the streets. Who knows how many work inside, where they are less likely to be noticed (of course, men lining upside a house on a residential street certainly draws suspicion)?

In San Francisco, voters on Nov. 4 will face a question about whether to decriminalize prostitution. The city's main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is urging residents to vote yes on Proposition K, arguing it will reduce violence and help prostitutes and their customers seek and get proper health care. The debate continues as to whether that means the streets will be flooded with more street-walkers, or if the street-walkers will simply be more organized and free from pimps.

In the 1980s, Baltimore got national attention merely proposing a DEBATE on drug decriminalization; I couldn't find any information about whether that also included prostitution. I checked with Ryan O'Doherty, the spokesman for City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and he assured me that the issue isn't being discussed now either.

"It's not in our plans," he said.

It's still an interesting topic ...