Corpus Christi, TX
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Reverse stings | ✓ |
Shaming | ✓ |
Auto seizure | ✓ |
Community service | ✓ |
Public education | ✓ |
Neighborhood action | ✓ |
SOAP orders | ✓ |
John school | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Web stings | ✓ |
License suspension | ✓ |
Corpus Christi is a city of approximately 325,000 residents, located on the southeast coast of Texas. Most of the city lies within Nueces County, but the boundaries also extend into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio Counties. The Corpus Christi Police Department has conducted many street-level and web-based stings in response to complaints from residents and businesses. Corpus Christi police and public officials have reported that the city’s prostituted women and sex buyers may be connected to other crime issues, such as drug abuse and human trafficking. To address these crimes and other related problems, the city has created educational alternatives to address some of the core issues associated with the demand and supply of prostitution. In programs that have been implemented intermittently in Corpus Christi, women arrested for prostitution (as well as male sex buyers) have been provided the opportunity to go into programs instead of serving jail time, or coupled with reduced jail time. The programs have involved sex and substance abuse education, and adhering to a geographic restraining (or SOAP) order restricting them from certain areas of the city, and HIV/AIDS testing. Some arrestees have also been required to place a bumper sticker on their car saying, “Stop Prostitution.”
Through 2012, the city deliberated about offering a rehabilitation and assistance program for prostituted women modeled after an initiative in Dallas. In Dallas, police and medical personnel would set up mobile clinics in areas with the highest prostitution rates. Instead of jail time, county health care officials and judges intend to provide screening for diseases and to offer options to find employment, education, and/or mental health care. By the middle of the following year, a variation on the Dallas model had been implemented in Corpus Christi. Key differences in the latter program are that it is offered in a central location rather than being mobile, and contains a component for male sex buyers.
Beginning is July, 2013, the District Attorney’s Office, Corpus Christi Police Department and Coastal Bend Wellness Coalition collaborated on a prostitution diversion program entitled the Red Cord initiative. This program is intended to help women and men involved in prostitution disengage from their current environments and from commercial sex, providing services including substance abuse treatment, mental and physical health evaluations and treatment, job skills programs, education programs, and temporary housing – all provided by non-profit partners. Those suspected of either buying or selling sex are taken to a building downtown, where officials from the Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation and the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office immediately assess them and offer them help through the Red Cord Initiative.
Among the efforts to address prostitution and sex trafficking locally are those targeting consumer-level demand. Police concentrate those efforts in parts of the city with the most persistent complaints, including areas near Leopard Street, Brownlee Boulevard and South Port Avenue. A recent example of a reverse sting was a street-level operation occurring in March 2018 that resulted in the arrest of six sex buyers. Operations have been conducted at all hours of the day, using undercover female officers as decoys. For example, in June 2018, police directed a reverse sting on a Thursday afternoon in Corpus Christi’s North and West side neighborhoods. A female officer posed as a prostituted person and was solicited by men requesting sex acts in exchange for money. Seven men were arrested and charged with prostitution, a class B misdemeanor and that can be punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Six of the seven men arrested during that operation agreed to attend a voluntary prostitution diversion education program at their expense. The “john school” program educates men about the negative consequences of prostitution, circumstances that may lead someone to purchase sex, and the impact they have on the individual they attempt to solicit sex in exchange for money. If the men successfully complete the education program, their case could be dismissed by the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office.
The CCPD has released the names, ages, hometowns, and photos of arrested sex buyers to the public since 2007. Arrest records are currently available on the department’s official website, along with details describing arrested johns’ vehicle descriptions. By 2018, the john school program had been developed and offered to arrested buyers in exchange for a reduced sentence (or dismissal of charges) and a $500 fee. The John School is provided by Coastal Bend Wellness. The money generated by the fees that men pay for the John School is used to help those involved in prostitution get access to help for mental abuse, housing, health care and other things needed to exit sexual exploitation. In March 2018, a reverse sting was conducted and six men were taken into custody for buying sex, and were offered the john school option. In June 2018, six of the seven men arrested in a reverse sting chose the john school option.
In March, 2021, seven men were arrested in an anti-prostitution sting by the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Narcotics and Vice Investigations Division (NVID). Officials with the CCPD said the men were arrested after soliciting an undercover CCPD officer, posing as a prostituted person, for sex acts in exchange for money. The men arrested during the operation were required to attend the mandatory prostitution diversion education program at their expense. The fees raised from this program are then used to provide resources to assist women wanting to exit from prostitution. NVID Detectives were assisted by several law enforcement entities, as well as civilians with the Red Cord Program. The Red Cord Program, CCPD said, is a prostitution diversion program aimed to provide practical and emotional support for those involved in prostitution. The program is a collaboration between Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation, social service organizations, Nueces County District Attorney Office, and Corpus Christi Police Department.
Key Partners
- Corpus Christi Police Department
- Corpus Christi Weed and Seed Program
- Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation
- Nueces County District Attorney’s Office
- Red Cord Initiative
Key Sources
- Street-Level Reverse Stings with Shaming:
- “Prostitution Sting Nets Cops 16 Arrests”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 8 2000.
- “Police May Post Photos of Johns”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 2 2007.
- “Sexual Offenses Will Be Posted”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, October 16 2007.
- “Civilians Ease Police Loads by Investigating”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, April 6 2008.
- “Prostitution Sting Yields Nine Arrests”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, October 5 2010.
- “Seven Men Arrested in Prostitution Sting”, Police Blotter, Corpus Christi Police Department, May 24 2012.
- “Corpus Christi Police Arrest Three Men in Prostitution Sting,” ABC/KIII-TV 3, December 19 2014.
- “Corpus Christi police arrest six johns during prostitution sting operation.” Caller Times, March 30, 2018.
- http://www.kristv.com/story/38488190/ccpd-seven-men-arrested-during-prostitution-sting (June 2018)
- https://www.caller.com/story/news/crime/2018/06/22/corpus-christi-police-nab-7-men-prostitution-sting-north-west-side/ (June 2018)
- https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/ten-men-arrested-in-anti-prostitution-sting-by-corpus-christi-police (2021)
- Web-Based Reverse Stings:
- John School:
- http://www.kristv.com/story/ccpd-seven-men-arrested-during-prostitution-sting (2018)
- ttps://www.caller.com/story/news/crime/2018/06/22/corpus-christi-police-nab-7-men-prostitution-sting-north-west-side/ (2018)
- https://www.caller.com/story/news/crime/2018/03/30/corpus-christi-police-arrest-six-johns-during-prostitution-sting-operation (2018)
- Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Area Man Held in Pandering,” Victoria Advocate, August 10 1963.
- “Sex-Slaying Suspect Henley May Get Third Trial,” Lakeland Ledger, June 24 1979.
- “Former NBA Star Alvin Robertson on Sex Charges After Kidnapped Girl, 14, Forced into Prostitution and Stripping”, Daily Mail (U.K.), February 28 2010.
- “Alleged Sex-Trade Victim Vanishes”, San Antonio Express-News, March 17 2010.
- “Group Details Horror of South Texas Human Sex Trafficking”, NBC/KRIS-TV 6, June 11 2010.
- “Legislature Calls for Tougher Trafficking Laws”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, January 30 2011.
- “Jury Convicts San Antonio Man for Sex Trafficking of Minors”, ABC/KSAT-TV 12, July 23 2014.
- “Miles Sentenced to 40 Years for Human Trafficking,” ABC/KIII-TV 3, August 1 2016.
- Documented Violence against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Survivor of Health Spa Murders Clings to Life”, Bonham Daily Favorite, September 10 1981.
- “Police Confirm Murder Victims All Prostitutes”, NBC/KRIS-TV 6, March 31 2010.
- Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- “Oldest Profession Changes Faces,” Victoria Advocate, August 19 1972.
- “Witnesses Threatened in Motorcycle Gang Probe,” Ellensburg Daily Record, February 13 1979.
- “Elderly Caller Finally Gets a Date– With His Arresting Officer”, Albany Herald, April 8 1982.
- “S. Texas Police Say Bikini-Clad Maids Really a Front for Prostitution Ring”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 24 1994.
- “Police Blotter: 07.03.05”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 3 2005.
- “Prostitution Sting Results in 15 Arrests”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 21 2006.
- “Weed and Seed Gets $200k Grant”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 18 2007.
- “Prostitutes Hear of a Different Life”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 30 2007.
- “CCPD: Thirty Prostitution Arrests in 30 Days”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, February 18 2010.
- “Police Sting Leads to Seven Arrests”, NBC/KRIS-TV 6, October 20 2010.
- “Police: Seven Arrested During Prostitution Operation”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, April 1 2011.
- “Corpus Christ Police Arrest Nine Women Thursday After Complaints of Prostitution”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, August 12 2011.
- “Complaints of Prostitution, Lead to Arrest”, Police Blotter, Corpus Christi Police Department, September 7 2011.
- “Sting Uncovers Prostitution Ring”, Police Blotter, Corpus Christi Police Department, October 14 2011.
- “Corpus Christi Police Arrest 11 Suspected ‘Janes’ in Prostitution Sting”, NBC/KRIS-TV 6, May 31 2012.
- “Corpus Christi Police Sting Nets 10 Women for Prostitution”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 2 2012.
- “10 Arrested During Corpus Christi Prostitution Sting”, NBC/KRIS-TV 6, October 18 2012.
- “Corpus Christi Police Mull Program to Treat Suspected Prostitutes Rather than Jail Them”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, December 9 2012.
- “Editorial: A Better Solution to Prostitution than Prosecution”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, December 12 2012.
- “Community Aids in Four Prostitution Arrests,” ABC/KIII-TV 3, January 29 2016.
- https://www.facebook.com/CorpusChristiPD/posts/an-anti-prostitution-sting (2020)
State | Texas |
Type | City |
Population | 325780 |
Location |
Comments are closed.