NEWS

Answers to prostitution problem few and far between

Eric Lagatta

Reporter

ZANESVILLE – The short-term solution tends to be this:

A resident sees what he or she believes to be a known prostitute working the street. After that resident calls the Zanesville Police Department, a marked cruiser conducts a routine patrol in the area.

But by the time the officer drives through, the woman is gone. And even if she isn't, "it's not against the law to stand on the sidewalk," police Chief Ken Miller said.

Zanesville police are seeing an increase in prostitution complaints as more women battle opioid addiction. Though police acknowledge the problem, they say solving it isn't simple.

To make an arrest, police need evidence of a crime. In this case, the suspect would need to offer a service and specify the amount of money in return.

Undercover stings targeting the women and johns has led to several arrests so far this year. But it's only a matter of time before the offenders are back on the streets again.

The dilemma is not unique to Zanesville. Officials across the state are looking for answers that might offer a long-term solution to a problem that almost all agreed is related to the drug epidemic.

While irate residents call for strict policing, others favor a more human approach that seeks to give the women incentives to get off drugs and, hence, off the streets.

But all is easier said than done.

"I just don't think there's an easy solution — or we'd be doing it," Zanesville City Council President Dan Vincent said.

Residents have complained to the council for years of prostitutes on their streets soliciting johns. But other than provide money to police to conduct stings, not much exists for council members to do.

"You go around here and you can't miss them," said Cyndi Royce, referring to prostitutes who she said often work on Ridge Avenue. "You see these prostitutes, and they're standing next to the school bus stops, our kids walking by them to get to school."

More than a year ago, The Times Recorder highlighted the problems on Ridge Avenue after speaking to Royce — then Cyndi Peddicord, who lives on the street with her children and now-husband Terry.

Though she said things might have abated slightly since then, the women are still around, often standing on the street corner eyeing passing cars for a potential customer.

The ongoing problem has left a rift between the residents and city officials; Royce, who is running for city council, claims she's not seeing enough initiative from officials to address the problem.

"You hear a lot of lip service about community policing," she said. But "you get to feel like they're not going to do anything."

Clean streets — but only for a while

The city's police chief said he understands residents' frustration.

But with limited manpower caused by a couple of injuries this year, the department has not been able to conduct undercover stings at the normal rate.

With eight arrests for soliciting so far this year, the department has lagged from the 18 arrests officers had made by this time in 2014.

ZPD also has logged more complaints — 105 compared with 92 by August in 2014.

But the arrest rate has picked up in the past couple of months. Five of this year's eight soliciting arrests have been in August.

The police department employs one special officer whose role consists largely of undercover, neighborhood work. Called the "directed activity patrol" officer, he heads the department's undercover stings against the women and johns.

The stings target problem areas that receive the most calls of loitering prostitutes: Ridge Avenue, Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

"I encourage (residents) to call because I can watch where the calls are coming in so I know where to direct enforcement," Miller said. "We're going to continue to address the problem as manpower and overtime will allow us."

Once the woman or john is under arrest, they face a charge of solicitation, which is always a third-degree misdemeanor under state law, even if the suspect is a repeat-offender.

But the concern then becomes: Is the threat of arrest much of a deterrent?

Offenders are often slapped with a $250 fine in municipal court and have a 30-day jail sentence suspended. They're then back on the streets, and the cycle continues.

'A good alternative'

The best way to break that cycle, some officials say, is to find a more compassionate way to help the women.

"Nobody is giving them a good alternative," said Steve Carrel, CEO of Muskingum Behavioral Health. "They need somebody to care about them and who believes they can change."

Carrel's agency, an addiction treatment center, treats about a half-dozen women a year who have done jail time for soliciting.

Apart from his agency, there's the specialty dockets at the county and common pleas courts that allow people to avoid jail time if they get sober and find a job. Naomi's House, a ministry of Cornerstone Full Gospel Church in Duncan Falls, houses broken women.

It's options like these that Carrel wants to see expanded.

Alice Adkins, founder of Hope Outreach, a Zanesville nonprofit, is dedicated to walking the streets and reaching out to women who resort to prostitution.

"Our goal is to let them know that God loves them and we're here for them," she said. "We just want them to know that they are important no matter what they're doing."

It's Adkins' wish that others would understand what has driven these women to prostitution.

"We have a women in crisis problem in Zanesville," she said. "These women, they lack hope and they feel like they lack options, like their lives will never change."

In the 10 years Adkins has done her outreach, she's noted a common thread: Almost all the women are from broken homes; have been emotionally, sexually or physically abused; have attempted suicide; and have lost custody of children.

Finding women willing to share their stories with a reporter is a difficult task.

Most don't want to publicly acknowledge what they've done — every woman currently in the city jail for soliciting declined an interview request from The Times Recorder.

And the few who have overcome it often don't want to publicize their past; they want to blend into the fabric of society, to live whatever they feel is a normal life, Carrel said.

"With proper treatment and care, I have seen women who have been prostituting themselves in Zanesville get into recovery, live clean and sober lives, get their kids back, get a job and live whatever is a normal life," Carrel said.

The Times Recorder's Evan Peter Smith contributed to this report.

elagatta@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

740-450-6753

Twitter: @EricLagatta

To report prostitution

Call the Zanesville Police Department at 740-455-0700

Learn More

For more information about Alice Adkins' Hope Outreach, visit hopeoutreachcenter.org or call 740-607-8220.