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| David Scott Banghart |
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| SOLUTIONS Solutions to to help deal with the problem of prostitution in our neighborhood and the city of Tampa. 1. All parties in the criminal justice system should understand that street level prostitution is a problem that needs to be dealt with. 2. A multiagency task force needs to be created to address the issues from a systems level rather than piecemeal. This task force should consist of representatives from Tampa Police Department, Hillsborough Couny Sheriff's Office (and other police agencies), State's Attorney, Probation, Department of Juvenile Justice, appropriate Social Service Agencies/Treatment Providers, City and County Government, other agencies such as Code Enforcement or Health Department, and Judges if appropriate. Consideration should be made to have some academic representatives such as from USF departments of Social Work and Criminology. This task force should look at all facets of the problem, and use efforts that have worked in past but also try new creative ideas. continued . . . |
| The above three links show West Palm Beach's excellent efforts to deal with the issues. |
| Help! I have found a reference to the following publication but have been unsucessful in locating a copy of it: Community Policing: A Partnership in Action, "Prostitution: A Community Problem," City of Saint Petersburg, Florida, 1992, 1993, 1994, Section 12B, "Johns" Survey. |
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| Questions: When someone commits a prostitution related offense in a vehicle, that vehicle gets impounded by TPD. How much money has been collected and how much have spent on dealing with prostitution? Reportedly the amount collected has been over $400,000 to $500,000. |
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| In October 2000, after coming home from work, Buddy Williams encountered yet one more prostitute at the corner of his street and Nebraska Avenue. Normally when he came home from work he would walk his dog. This night he was fed up and decided to change his route. He walked to the corner and down Nebraska Avenue. The prostitute moved on. The next week several of his neighbors from his street walked with him. The prostitutes moved on. The third week residents from other streets, including neighborhood activists, joined him and the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association Exercise Club was officially born. Residents usually meet at the U-Save parking lot and walk up and down Nebraska Avenue from Hillsborough to Martin Luther King. Periodically the residents will walk as far south as Columbus Blvd. in Ybor Heights and as far north as the Publix in Old Seminole Heights. On occasion a few residents from Ybor Heights and Old Seminole Heights have joined with the exercise club. Members of the North Tampa Neighborhood Watch have regularly participated in the walks. In the end of December 2000, Tampa Police Department began providing an escort. The goal of Civic Association is not to simply move the prostitutes out of the neighborhood but to eradicate the problem from the entire length of Nebraska Avenue and eventually from the city of Tampa. Meetings have been held with Tampa Police Department, Chief Judge Dennis Alvarez, State Attorney Mark Ober, and City Council Members Rose Ferlita and Bob Buckhorn to discuss dealing with the problem of prostitution. Various solutions to the problems of prostitution have been presented by the residents to these agencies and officials. |
| A community that used the task force approach and was successful in dealing the prostitution problem. This shows that the task force approach works! |
| The problem is not finding solutions to deal with the problem of prostitution but finding the political will. |
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| On 4/25/01 the Hillsborough County Commission presented the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association with the Best Safety Project award "for efforts to rid their neighborhood of prostitution. The residents worked closely with local elected officials, police, the judicial system and local neighborhood watch associations in their efforts" |
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| Residents Frank Roder and Maria Garcia leading a group of exercise club members. |
| photos courtesy Michael Palmer |
| This to provide information on the efforts by the residents of the several Civic and Neighborhood Crime Watch Associations to deal with the prostitution problems along Nebraska Avenue and in other neighborhoods in the city of Tampa, Florida. |
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| On 6/22/01 the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association organized a multiagency meeting at the Seminole Heights Baptist Church to plan a systems approach to dealing with the problem of prostitution. Present at this meeting were Tampa Police Chief Bennie Holder, Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober, Hillsborough County Public Defender Julianne Holt, Tampa City Council Members Rose Ferlita, Bob Buckhorn and Charlie Miranda, Hillsborough County Commissioners Thomas Scott and Chris Hart, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Major Rocky Rodriguez, City Of Tampa Code Enforcement Manager Bill Doherty, Tampa Crossroads Executive Director Dan Kane, and City of Tampa Neighborhood Liaison Julie Harris, among others. All of the above committed to participating in the prostitution task force. Tampa Crossroads introduced a new Prostitution and John's treatment program. The Court Administrator's Office reported on a study completed on prostitution arrests from September 2000 to March 2001. 1. Text of the introductory speech by Frank Roder 2. Victim Impact Statement of Denise Toledo |
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| Prostitution Fight Update in Tampa Seminole Heights Blog Unofficial Website Home / Prostitution Links / Prostitution Solutions / Exercise Club Photos / Prostitution Task Force |
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| Latest News Coverage (WUSF Radio 6/26/01) Check out the links page for more news coverage. |
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| Prostitution Bill Approved by the Governor! ************************************** On 3/18/02 the Florida Legislature passed a Senate Bill 570. This bill sponsored by Senator Les Miller and related House Bill 415 sponsored by Rep. Frank Farkas and cosponsored by Representatives Sandra Murman and Sara Romeo provided for the following: "Project HOPE; creates community-based pilot program entitled Project HOPE in Pinellas & Hillsborough Counties; specifies that certain persons convicted of violations of specified provision are required to participate in program; provides that third or subsequent violation of certain provisions, certain activities re prostitution, or purchase of services from person engaged in prostitution is third-degree felony rather than second-degree misdemeanor, etc. Amends FS. APPROPRIATION: $200,000. EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/01/2002." SB 570 essentially allows the criminal justice system to have more people convicted of prostitution offenses placed into treatment, interrupting the repeated cycle of arrests and offenses. On 6/5/0/2 Governor Jeb Bush signed the bill, which takes effect on 7/1/02! |
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| The Exercise Club |
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| New! The Department of Justice has released its new The Problem-Oriented Guide for Police Series on Street Prostitution. (pdf format) "Focusing on the problem of female street prostitutes, this guide provides practitioners with information regarding prostitutes, their clients, and pimps and panderers as well as explaining the transaction, the environment associated with the problem, and describes the linkage between prostitution and drugs. The guide provides questions to ask when dealing with the problem of street prostitution, identifies potential responses to the problem and proposes measures to assess the effectiveness of response approaches." |