Not every day does one get to go undercover with a police officer to fight sex trafficking. And, on this not so ordinary day, I had a personal tour of 2 police precincts and took part in an undercover ride a long in some of the Portland’s most notorious places for prostitution. This particular officer has fought sex trafficking and prostitution for many years, so many that he recognized and was able to name just about every gal on the side of the road on 82nd Ave.
The first gal….She was blonde, she wasn’t a spring chicken but she wasn’t old. Right off the bat the officer said she was working the street and I didn’t completely understand why- she looked normal. She was nicely dressed, and to me, didn’t fit the picture of a ‘normal’ prostitute with cleavage hanging out or too tight or too short of clothes. She was dressed modestly but something was different about her. I was about to learn how to identify a prostitute- one sign is in the way that she walked as though she had no place to go and she looked around as though she didn’t want to miss anything. She was also on her phone. We pulled over to a parking lot and watched her continue to walk down 82nd until a blue pickup truck pulled up. She made eye contact, nodded, and walked toward the truck. We moved our vehicle right behind the truck and watched the john invite the prostitute in his truck. Just. Like. That.
It was a casual encounter from what I could see, it seemed normal to both of them. Well, the officer honked a few times and I could see the look on their faces in the rearview mirror. Why would two civilians be honking at a blue truck that just picked up a gal? They were hesitant to leave, but finally did so and we followed them. We followed them a block to where they turned off and so did we, never did the officer let up his pursuit. The john must have felt something was up and stopped to have the woman get out of the truck. She got out and he sped off. Now, we were undercover, nothing on our vehicle or the clothes we were wearing gave any clue to law enforcement. So, we pulled up next to the gal who proceeded to walk over to our car. My window was rolled down as she leaned over to talk with us, but she still kept her distance as she was unsure of what was going on. He asked her a couple of questions, she made some excuses, he pulled out his badge and showed it to her, telling her that today she will not be arrested, but that she shouldn’t be doing this and she needs to just go home. She stammered a bit, made some excuses and then the officer made himself a little more clear about what she needed to do and she left, quietly. Both of them would have been arrested and charged with attempt to prostitution and a monetary fine if we were in an actual police car or had proper back up.
I personally could not believe that the FIRST woman we saw on our patrol took to a john and planned to go off and do her thing.
We didn’t see any minors out and about being sold. It seems as though that the younger girls are sold through websites- a john visits the site, orders the girl he wants and they agree on the location. The police have set up similar appointments used for stings- the girl shows up and gets arrested and then the police attempt to get information. Attempt is the key word. Many don’t talk or fill the police in with false information.
I asked the officer what he attributes to younger girls getting into this sort of mess and what causes the inability to get out of it. He replied that the family system break down is a huge cause as well as the culture that glorifies this kind of behavior. Not only does familial dysfunction (abuse, etc.) make children vulnerable to being trafficked, but look at our sex crazed culture, even in rap music. Think about the lyrics behind the rap songs- they talk about pimpin’, ho’s and cash in a glorified manner. The majority of the girls come into the game by some smooth talking pimp who tells them how much he loves them and how he will take care of them and offers them stability that they have never experienced before, only to be brought into an even worse form of their own personal hell. The pimps get into the girls’ minds and twist them so much more beyond any dysfunction they’ve previously known. And, after a while…. That is life for the girl. Unfortunately, even if the girl is arrested, she usually doesn’t talk or give any information to the police. If she’s charged with prostitution, then she can get services from Department of Human Services, if she’s not charged with prostitution, she’s released. Either way, her chances of going right back to her pimp are EXTREMELY high. However, this officer spotted one girl on the side of the road waiting for a bus and was eager to talk with her…
The girl was this officer’s only success. We pulled around the bus stop and parked while this young lady, maybe early twenties, walked up to us as we exited the car. She was so happy to see the officer and I can’t tell you how many times she said ‘Thank you’ to him. She started to tear up when she revealed how GOOD she was doing, they were tears of joy and again she said ‘Thank you’. I myself started to tear up- this excited me, seeing this girl saved from the evil bondage and hearing about her life that is back on track, after trafficking. We all parted ways from the joyous ‘run in’ and I felt so blessed to have witnessed both an attempt to prostitution with the first gal and then his only success story all in the same day. Little did I know, this officer went out on a limb for this gal. He had arrested her and then learned she had kids. He told her if she got a job, used him as a reference, made all her court dates and really put forth the effort of getting out of this, he would work with the court system in her favor. Since that arrest, she has been working and making a living for herself off of the streets and away from the pimps. Unfortunately there are no more success stories like this- at least for this particular officer. And even more unfortunate, the success rate of girls getting out and staying out is slim to 0%.
So, you may are sitting there, wondering “how I can prevent sex trafficking and prostitution?” Well, the United States has some pretty clear laws against this and the officers are doing all they can. It is a very tough crime to fight. What you can do as a citizen and as a parent is raise your kids correctly. Raise them with boundaries, with a good head on their shoulders as moral, upstanding citizens. Because, when a child loses their way, it starts to break down the family unit and when families are broken, communities are broken and the snowball effect occurs. Keep tabs on your children- KNOW what they’re doing and WHERE they are at, KNOW their friends, BE INVOLVED. Protect them because you love and care for them. Discipline them out of loving, kindness so that they may NEVER find themselves looking for attention and love in the wrong place and winding up on the streets.
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