F*ck the Police

I remember in a Hill Street Blues episode, an attempted police sting on a massage parlor went awry when one of the cops, posing as a customer, got too excited. Because of that, charges could not be pressed. Ever since I saw that show twenty-some years ago, I've always assumed that you can't have sex with a prostitute and then arrest her for having sex with you. In any case, a cop who would do such a thing has absolutely no sense of decency or honor -- no pride at all.

But times change. Via Fr. Jim Tucker, we learn of sheriff deputies receiving sex services in prostitution cases.

They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers.

In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers.

Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard D. Smith said that the practice is not new and that only unmarried detectives are assigned to such cases. Most prostitutes are careful not to say anything incriminating, so sexual contact is necessary, he said.

This proves the absurdity of anti-prostitution laws: no one is getting hurt. For if the women are being sexually exploited, they are the victims and shouldn't even be arrested. If the men suffer from it, then why are Spotsylvania's cops able to have sex without suffering negative consequences when other men can't?