Terry Bibo’s feature today includes an attempt to compare our new police chief to Chase Ingersoll. Why? Of course, to show why the police shouldn’t post pictures of johns before they’re convicted of the piddlin’ little ol’ misdemeanor of solicitation. A few comments:

First, as the Journal Star’s managing editor notes, shaming johns is how Chase Ingersoll first made headlines 10 years ago. That’s before he was disbarred, which might be both noteworthy and not-coincidental. Now the city appears to be following his lead. Chase approves.

“I find it far more important to keep the sex trade off the streets than I do keeping it off the Police Department’s Web site,” he posted on his own Web site Tuesday, chastising a Journal Star editorial. “Allow me to offer an alternative thought. It is criminality that leads to these dire consequences, not the act of holding criminals accountable.”

Note to Terry: Chase did have that quote on his “website” (it’s actually a “weblog,” or “blog” for short — maybe you’ve heard of them), but he was quoting Chief Settingsgaard’s open letter to, among other people, the Journal Star. Didn’t you even read the chief’s letter? Or are you so closed-minded on this issue that you didn’t even bother? In any case, you didn’t do your homework before wrongly attributing that quote. Poor reporting, Terry.

Moving on, she says later about councilman Gary Sandberg:

Sandberg was never even arrested, much less found guilty of anything, when he was picked up for giving a “known prostitute” a ride in 1993. The rookie officer who gave him a warning for making two right-hand turns without a signal didn’t recognize the councilman, but she did recognize the rider as a convicted hooker. Still, his name was splashed all over the place.

Hmmm… “his name was splashed all over the place.” What does that mean? Billboards? Direct mail letters? OH — you mean the vaunted Journal Star! That’s right, the Journal Star did splash his name and picture all over the place, even though he wasn’t convicted or even charged with anything. Will the hypocrisy never end?

Here the police are doing their jobs, trying to root out crime in Peoria, and the Journal Star, state’s attorney, and some on the city council are talking trash about them and trying to obstruct their efforts. What is wrong with you people? Are you so miserably out of touch with what people in these neighborhoods want and need? Don’t you see the connection between crime and people not wanting to live in the older parts of town?

Bibo concludes her article with these inspiring lines: “Sandberg predicts it [shaming] will blow up in the Police Department’s face. And he’s going to let it. He has his own ideas about deterrents.” Now, first of all, I realize this is the Journal Star saying this, so who knows what Sandberg really said. But assuming this is true, what Sandberg is saying is that he hopes the Peoria Police fail. Did you hear that? One of our council members hopes that the police department’s efforts to curtail prostitution “blows up in their face” — that is, fails miserably and publicly. Isn’t that nice?

And then, “he has his own ideas about deterrents.” What does that mean? He has a better idea for getting rid of prostitution? What is it? Why haven’t we heard it over the last hundred years he’s been on the council?

I’m thoroughly disgusted with the negative attitude that’s been coming from the Journal Star and the city council on this topic. I, unlike Sandberg, et. al., hope this initiative is successful and results in positive changes for Peoria’s neighborhoods. And even if it does fail, I’m still going to thank God for a police chief who’s willing to take risks and try new tactics to clean up Peoria and make it a better place to live.

They’re out there now. If you want to see who has been picked up for solicitation of prostitutes, go to the Peoria Police Department website and click on “Prostitution Information” — or just click here for a direct link.

I like the fact that the police chief said he was going to do it, and he did it. Quickly.

Here’s something interesting: one guy on the list is from Canton and another is from Bloomington. I didn’t realize the prostitutes here got business from the surrounding communities, too. Maybe the online posting of their pictures will get them to stay home or at least away from our neighborhoods.

UPDATE: When I went back to the site at 6:00, they had taken the “Prostitution Information” link off the front page, but the direct link still worked. Maybe they’re not ready to unveil it yet.

How refreshing to hear that our new police chief is standing up to criticism of his plan to publicly shame prostitutes and johns. In an open letter to the Journal Star (which they didn’t publish in its entirety, interestingly), he responds to criticism of his plan in their recent editorial and from State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons. Lyons’ position is, in part, explained here:

But Lyons said someone in high-profile or sensitive positions, like pastors, teachers, corporate presidents and law-enforcement personnel, would undergo much higher public notoriety than others arrested on prostitution-related charges, which are misdemeanor offenses. That, he said, will lead to “a mad scramble and fevered and horrified effort by the person of profile to contact officials in a ‘Dear God, don’t do this to me,’ manner.”

Yeah. That’s the whole idea behind shaming. Hopefully that kind of fear will keep them from soliciting prostitutes in the first place. I mean, is Lyons implying that we’re supposed to feel sorry for these johns? Or not prosecute those in “high-profile or sensitive positions” because it could be too damaging to their reputations? Responding to this line of reasoning, the police chief has this to say directly to the johns:

“Am I mistaken, or is it your responsibility to protect your wives and your children from this embarrassment?” he said. “You choose to skulk around our neighborhoods and engage in illicit sex acts in your cars, expose yourself to potentially deadly diseases and then carry those diseases back to your homes. Yet somehow the police department is endangering your family?

Exactly. Later he tells them frankly, “You have become a cancer, and we are tired of it.”

Notice how the Journal Star talks almost apologetically about the crime. You can almost hear them saying between the lines, “aw, it’s only a little ‘ol misdemeanor; why do we want to shame people for little ol’ misdemeanors?” Just because this crime is a misdemeanor is no reason to go soft on it. Driving under the influence of alcohol is a misdemeanor, too, and if a pastor or high-profile figure is picked up for a DUI, he or she “would undergo much higher public notoriety,” but the Journal Star has no qualms about printing the names of those arrested for DUIs, nor has Lyons ever complained about the practice.

And yet prostitution is at least as dangerous, as the police chief pointed out. If someone solicits a prostitute and contracts AIDS, then goes home and has sex with his wife and gives her AIDS, he’s just as guilty of reckless homicide in my book as if he’d gotten behind the wheel of a car drunk and run over his wife. Perhaps this is even worse since she’ll have to suffer a slow and painful death. Of course, there are all manner of venereal diseases he could pass along that may not kill her, but make her life miserable anyway.

I like a guy who tells it like it is. Let’s not pussyfoot around, people — prostitution is dangerous and it’s illegal. It does terrible damage to families and neighborhoods. And it’s the police department’s responsibility to enforce the law. Public shaming is a good idea. You’re never going to reduce prostitution by trying to cut down the supply — you have to go after the demand. Fear of public shaming is a powerful tool in reducing demand.

Good work, Chief Settingsgaard!