we live on 15st and 9ave. i dont want them down here! keep em where they're at. you knew that was prime area for hookers so why move there?

They all go to the library to pretty up for their johns, and to clean up after wards in the public washrooms. Seriously....My wife works at the library, and she says they in and out all day every day, occasionally bringing their tricks in with them.

you will never remove the streetwalkers you may move them but what has to be done is eliminate the johns or make it so uncomfortable for them that they won't seek the services. If there is demand there is supply.

hey "just sayin"-that area of west flat was a good area for years till about 6-7 years ago they decided to clean out downtown area of [content removed by administrator] so the judges would ban the [content removed by administrator] from downtown area and they resetlled in the west flat-maybe the west flat needs to get together and petition the judges to ask them to start banning them from west flat altogether.
Maybe people "Moved here" before they started hanging around-maybe a large spot light and loudspeaker would help-when you see one light it up and call it names. maybe they will go away-or start a john tv thing like that guy in the states.

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Emma

To get rid of the litter(working girls) maybe city of pa should consider opening up a brothel and tax the heck out of it. These people have been around forever and their not going away. So the government should just acknowledge it and open up brothels.

Was driving home from a friend's place last night at 10 PM and one of the ladies was strutting her stuff in the middle of the street and did not get out of the way until she realized I was a woman driving a truck and not interested in what she had to sell. I should have called the police, as she was holding up traffic, but it was late, I was tired and just wanted to get home. If there are police officers reading this, is it worth our while to keep calling you guys about this?

Every call that I have made to the police have been taken seriously, documented and acted upon in order of priority.

I'm not sure the city can, why not? I know that there's a matter before the Ontario courts about whether or not some of the laws governing prostitution are legal but I haven't heard anything about a decision or if they've had their final day in court about it. Your idea makes sense to me. It would keep the lot of them off the residential streets and offer both prostitutes and johns a safe place to meet. Maybe that way, we'll have fewer attacks on both girls and guys?

Main question is going to be - where to put it?

I should go their and start selling condoms from my vehicle. See always a way to make some legal $$$ hahaha

Condoms are available, free of charge, from various locations around the city so there would be no $$$ in that.

Post pictures and videos of the johns and their vehicles on here and youtube.

It's actually illegal to take photos of people without their written consent...could come back and bite you [Content removed by administration].

I'd like to see the specific law forbidding taking pictures of ppl in public, please post it or a link please.

As for prostitution? Start doing like some jurisdictions have and confiscate the John's vehicles when they are charged. If you're found not guilty, you get your car back. If not, sucks to be you.

While I don't know the stories of these women, I think that it's fair to say that these women don't want to be doing what they're doing, and the police should focus (perhaps they already are) on the controllers. the pimps. They're the reason these girls are there in the first place.

@PAsnextmayor @Vlasic - photographs identifying specific individuals cannot be posted on SeeClickFix.

@Mr Hermiteowitch - profanities that are purposely misspelled with symbols are still considered profanities and are subject for removal.

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@ Peg: That is a very good question - where to put it.
I know for a fact that I wouldn't want it in my neighourhood. And I think I speak for alot of the citizens of Prince Albert when I say that. The one place I can think of would be the old drive in...property is not being used, and its out of sight, and it would have a large parking lot. lol.

I don't know as I'd put it in a residential area. If legal and taxed, it would be a business, a commercial venture. Downtown would be the proper place, by my logic. You'd have to put operating hours on it, though, not just a 24 hour drop-in center. That would solve some of the problems. If the bawdy house hours were after regular working hours, then there wouldn't be any conflict between the daylight-hours businesses and the bawdy house clientele.

If you had a 'den mother' or the modern day equivalent, then the girls and guys would have time for a decent sleep, three square meals or thereabouts, showers and laundry facilities, etc. The housekeeper/den mother wouldn't be involved in the business, per se. He or she would just be there to make sure that the girls were provided for as far as health and sanitation issues were concerned. And maybe as a sounding board for troubles. I think some of the streetwalkers would appreciate having someone to talk to besides the police.

In theory, with all of the above, you'd get these people feeling a bit better about themselves and maybe more interested/determined to kick any drug habits. If they didn't have to buy to feed a habit, maybe they'd consider another line of work? We won't know until we try, I guess.

There are several churches that have facilities in the downtown area. I suspect that they'd consider streetwalkers as being sorely in need of their services/prayers. By putting the bawdy house downtown, the preachers would have better access to those who need their help. My first thoughts would be in one of the vacant buildings on 1st Ave. West. I'm not sure if there are vacant properties on 1st Ave. East. It's been a while since I've done more than just go to the library. First East is also closer to residential areas, so people may object more strongly than if a house were placed on the west side of Central.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Peg for mayor!

The best solution is to report licence plate numbers to the police of those you have witnessed picking up prostitutes. They in turn send a letter to the registered owner of that vehicle. I'm pretty sure once a letter is received, the recipient's desire to return would be very slim. Every little bit helps. Continue to report, report, report

Peg,

I think that your ideas are clear and thoughtful, but I have my doubts whether a commercial business venture of this nature would work in Prince Albert. Unfortunately, there are already many social problems running out of control, so another complicated project like this would be unmanageable. Granted, it does work in some parts of the world, but in this town where we can't even figure out how to deal with minor issues like petty crime and trash, then how could we prevent a bawdy house from attracting drug dealers, gangs, and late night noise? Besides, I think it is illegal anyway, so maybe we should bite the bullet, and enforce the laws before the downtown area starts to look like East Hasting Street in Vancouver.

It would take some work, yes, to keep the worst elements out, Dag. I realize that. That's why I'm thinking maybe a bouncer or two with some street smarts wouldn't come amiss. And a madam/monsieur who won't take any nonsense from either staff or clientele. I've read this through a couple of times and paragraph 37 strikes me as particularly important: http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2010/december/2010ONCA0814.htm

I know it's for the Ontario courts right now, but it's a start. I believe there's a similar case in the works in B.C.

Thing is, we have to do *something* about the prostitutes in this town. Jailing them and/or fining them isn't working. They're back on the streets after their "Fifty dollars and time served" is up. Put the girls where they're a bit safer, *enforce* the restrictions put on the bawdy house and back the staff up with police presence when the gangs and such try strong-arm tactics.

No, the job of 'support staff' to the bawdy house isn't going to be easy. It's going to take some brave men and women to do it. Question is, do we have people who care enough to try? I know of a couple of people who are qualified for a job like this, but I don't know if they'd be willing to do it. Prostitution hasn't been a topic of discussion in our years of friendship.

Here's a more recent article on the B.C. case: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/966488--supreme-court-to-hear-challenge-of-anti-prostitution-law

Peg and Dag:
I still don't think this will solve the problem. There will still be "street walkers" because the drugs talk and they walk!!!

OK, somebody help me...what are "civic points"?

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Are any of you saying that this is a needed service in this town or is it just a means for some creep to get his jollies when hes not getting it at home. Like I said previously if you want to rid the city of prostitution then get rid of the johns. I don't see it being legalized in my lifetime and if it is not legal lets enforce the law. If the girls and their pimps continue to make money the problem won't go away so make it so they are not making money and the only way to do that is stop the demand, stop the johns.

That's what I'm saying, Debbie. If there's a safe place for the prostitutes and we keep the drugs out as best we can, then maybe they will have a chance at a better life. No, the drugs aren't going away, but they're a symptom, not necessarily a problem in and of themselves.

John Doe, there's no way you can get rid of prostitutes. They've been around for millenia and they'll be around as long as there are people willing to pay for it. Prostitution *is* legal. It's living off the proceeds of, or solicitation for, or running a house for that's currently illegal. There are court cases ongoing to try to change those laws to make life a bit safer for the prostitutes. You can either try to bury the practice in the back garden or you can acknowledge that it exists and do the best you can with it.

As I see it, about the only way you're going to stop the demand is to sterilize every male and female in the city. Just in case they might need to one day use the services of a prostitute.

So lets say that we can successfully stop all the johns from picking up prostitutes? then what? Well, I don't think the prostitutes drug addictions will magically disappear, so if they can't support their addictions, not to mention feed themselves, with turning tricks, chances are they turn to theft...so how is that any better?
Other citys have "safe shooting gallaries" where addicts can go and shoot up with out being hassled by the police, so why not a "safe hooking gallary". Keeps them out of yours and my neighborhood, still lets earn to feed their addiction....and no, I don't think its feasabile to even think about "curing" their addictions, that don't happen until they want it to

@administrator: nowhere did I mention posting public pictures of any individual on this site, I was questioning the veracity of a law forbidding taking pictures in public. Please reread the original post.

@agnostic: feeding prostitutes or their addiction is not society's responsibility. I have my own family to feed, and I do it legally, something that more of our citizens should try doing.

Seriously, some of these comments make me wonder...whatever the hell happened to personal responsibility in our society? When did that become such a dirty concept?

There is a solution, but you won't like it.

Legalize prostitution, and drug possession and use.

This would take the financial gain aspects out of these activities, and the organized crime syndicates / street gangs that are funded by them would dry up and blow away.

Then, you could actually *help* the addicts and the hookers rather than just tossing them in jail to be trained to be better criminals who hopefully don't get caught again so soon next time.

Vlasic, I'm not advocating that the government feed and house prostitutes. They can pay room and board, same as anyone else. The johns would pay the proprietor of the house and then the girls would be paid on a weekly basis, with room and board coming out of their paycheques.

I saw a documentary about prostitution in Amsterdam about the "Red Light District" and they have a safe place where these women live & each woman has a window where she can sit & the men can decide which woman they want. You can see the women just going about their regular everday tasks like cleaning studying(one was studying nursing & this is how she paid her tuition) etc & it was a safe place for them to earn their money. So why not try something like that here-better than having them running all over the streets.

Window shopping for prostitutes in Prince Albert would be a horrendous thing...

Would it be any worse than seeing them on the streets, Mr. H?

Anyone who would frequent a PA prostitute, with their HIV rates in the high nineties percentile, is an idiot who should have their head examined. Legalized prostitution, like in Nevada, wouldn't work here because our hookers could never meet the stringent health requirements, such as regular HIV tests, and being drug-free. So any talk of legalizing prostitution here is no more than hot air.

Legalizing prostitution is definitely not the answer; nor is creating brothels. Getting them off the streets as much as possible by reporting each incident to the police is the only answer I can see. Too many citizens in this city turn a blind eye with the attitude that why should I bother, nothing's going to be done about it. If there is enough of a voice from the citizens of Prince Albert, the problem can be reduced dramatically!! Isn't this what we're all looking for? I have NO PROBLEM dialling 953-4222 ANYTIME. Do you Prince Albert?

But you're not getting them off the streets, Debbie. They get arrested and they're out the next day to be right back on their corner/street. Creating a brothel would at least keep them out of the residential areas.

And who pays for these brothels? Would this be another burden for taxpayers?

No, it wouldn't be a burden on the taxpayers. It would be a business just like any other in the downtown area. I'm not sure whether it would fall under 'inns' or something else. However, we won't know until June, at the earliest, whether or not such a thing is possible. That's when the two cases are before the Supreme Court, the one in Ontario and the one in BC.

You may be shocked to learn there are other solutions to problems than calling the police.

No wonder Prince Albert has the highest number of calls per capita per year in the province.

How many older men would use the service,instead of be picked up in a sting . Sex crimes would probably diminish ,sexually transmitted diseases would go down every thing could be a win ,win situation.The only thing a present is changing the views of our society It can be done only if the statis quo can change their minds,

Video tape them and put it on youtube.

That is illegal, PAsnextmayor. You'd need a model release to broadcast images of specific people, even if they are in public. You'd also run afoul of the stalking laws of this country if you were to follow people around with a videocamera with intent to defame them on a public forum. If you have a recording of the exact exchange between two people and *both* sides of the transaction recorded, then you run afoul of @#$% laws.

Now here's a question for you. Why should it be illegal to get sexual release from a business source if you don't happen to have (or want to have) a steady relationship? Are you saying that only sexual relationships that don't have money involved are okay? We used to have words for people who gave sex away to anyone who asked.

Peg, alot of the prostitutes I see are underage and they sure are busy with the pedophiles picking them up....and most "clients" are probably married or in some kind of relationship.

one evening while dropping books off at the drop off at the library, a woman standing at the library doors seen that i was a woman walked away about ten steps and moved back to the same spot after i had left.
is your area well lit? more lighting may be deter them from your area. not sure.
contact your neighbours, knock on their doors and come up with a plan to deter these streetwalkers from your area.
safety is your very first priority. if i had the courage i would sit in my vehicle and turn the headlights on whomever pulls up to pick these ppl. up.
unfortunately the problem of streetwalkers will never go away. preventing the younger generation from even picking up trick has to be addressed.

And pedophilia is against the law. Those clowns should be gathered up and sterilized.

Peg, the broad definition of Prostitution Is in fact "a sexual relationship that involves the exchange of money"

Anonymous...you said there are other solutions than calling the police? What would be those solutions regarding prostitution? And are the police not there to fight crime?

I have been living between 4th and 5th as well and have been here for almost 5 years. I am in total agreement that something needs to happen. I do not know the answer but maybe a bit more police presence on this street would be a helpful deterrant. I love where I live and my neighbors are wonderful longtime homeowners and I do not want them to move bc of this.

buy a sling shot.. they sell em' at the Dollar Store.. they are trash anyway..

i think whoever is caught with a prostitute,should have their name and picture in the star phoenix. A sling shot is a good idea, a paintball gun sounds better.

legalize it, and regulate it. We give away hundreds of thousands of needles to drug addicts....

designate an area as a redlight district.

You can't remove them, so let the johns do it.

It will never get fixed