Political posturing on prostitution ignores the human element
She was looking for a party in the shadows off the Boulevard between the Tropicana and a bus stop.
I've never been good at guessing ages, but she didn't look old enough to sell high school raffle tickets, much less her body. She tried to engage a few frat boy types in town for March Madness in a brief conversation, found no takers and moved on. I felt a century old watching her work a dance that goes on here countless times every night.
But I decided not to ask her how she felt about prostitution being the gotcha topic of the 2011 Las Vegas mayor's race.
Around here, prostitution is like the weather. Everyone talks about it, but no one does much about it.
Should they?
In the wake of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's challenge to the Legislature to end legal brothels, politicians great and small have sounded off on the topic. That conversation has found its way into the national news and several mayoral forums.
Should the city consider legalizing prostitution in a designated red light district?
Over the years, it's a question asked by media pundits and sociologists, some of whom are mindful of the undeniable hypocrisy of a tourist mecca that markets sex and unofficially promotes prostitution but keeps the act itself illegal.
Legalizing prostitution isn't an actual proposal -- I haven't heard a candidate endorse the idea -- just a political proposition occasionally postulated by Mayor Oscar Goodman on a slow news day. But the mere mention of it is enough to make our clean-living, God-fearing candidates go from zero to righteous umbrage in under 6 seconds.
Listen to them long enough, and you'll suspect we live in a community of misunderstood milk drinkers.
Beyond politics and posturing, Sheriff Doug Gillespie and his vice unit are responsible for enforcing laws many tourists don't know exist. If you thought Gillespie is ready to write off prostitution cases as just one of Vegas' colorful eccentricities, you'd be wrong.
Investigations are focused on popping the pimps, and Metro has teamed up with the IRS to hit the repeat offenders where it hurts most -- in the wallet.
"It's a multifaceted approach," Gillespie says. "We just can't go after the enforcement aspect of the girls. We have seen success over the years in focusing our efforts on some of the more prolific pimps in town.
"Plus we're going to look at different ways to go after them. And right now, the IRS, with (Special Agent in Charge) Paul Camacho in town, is a great partner. That's a great way to sting people that are involved in that industry. The way we used to approach gangs and the way we approach gangs today is significantly different and much more diverse. The same thing is true with the sex industry."
The trouble with politicizing the legalization issue is it tends to replace the human element with economic concerns. What often gets lost in the rhetorical exchange is the damage done.
"This is not a victimless crime," Gillespie says. "It's not even close. And anybody who thinks it is should spend a little time with any vice unit, and you'll see that it's not."
More recently, the media have focused on the growth of juvenile prostitution. With allies such as Juvenile Court Judge William Voy, Metro's approach has evolved from simple enforcement to an appreciation of the girls as victims of sex trafficking.
"We do our level best when we find one of these girls to get them headed in the right direction," the sheriff says. "We're not always successful, but I'll tell you what, that's one of those things where you never give up."
Politics aside, he knows there are lives at stake.
John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.
