Cook County Sheriff's Office Arrests 76 In Prostitution Sting

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 8, 2012 9:40PM

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office announced that a sting known as "National Day of Johns Arrests" netted a total of 314 arrests and $475,000 in fines. According to a press release, the multi-state sweep meant to target sex traffickers, resulted in 565 total arrests with 667 different charges including soliciting sex, human trafficking, weapons possession, and other misdemeanors. In Cook County, 47 men and 29 women were arrested.

The Sheriff's office press release stated:

Buyers of sex are increasingly becoming the target of law enforcement efforts to end prostitution and sex trafficking. Law enforcement recognizes that sex buyers perpetuate a violent, exploitative industry. If no one were to buy sex, pimps and traffickers would not be supplying bars, back alleys and websites with victims.

We applaud the Sherriff's office for taking on sex trafficking, but unfortunately, such stings have a way of missing some of the bigger issues regarding sex work. The issue of prostitution is more complicated than simple legality, and merely pulling some people off the streets for a night or two won't address the larger issues surrounding health, safety and exploitation.