The Morals Agenda

It was in the news in Central Florida today that the Altamonte Springs P.D. set-up a sting operation using Craigslist. They posted an ad in the "erotic services" category – most likely an explicit ad – to lure men seeking a cheap thrill to an Altamonte Springs hotel. Upon arrival the men with questionable moral values were arrested on the charge of "assignation to commit prostitution".

I am not sure at what specific point this became newsworthy, but it made the local news on tv and a brief article in the Orlando Sentinel; at least the online issue. One thing that needs to be clear here is that the "erotic services" category of Craigslist is the online version of the streets and the posters are not much different than street hookers – they bargain their sexual services for dollars almost blatantly at times. Anyone responding to the ads posted in this category is more similar than not to the john driving down Orange Blossom Trail in search of a hooker at a bargain price. Really. All you must do is look at the ads to realize this.

Of course Craigslist is far from alone in this respect. There are many online forums where the street hooker meets the john and they haggle over prices and services. All that has happened is they're all off the street. This is, of course, the lowest level of the prostitution business and law enforcement busting four or six men interested in prostitutes has rarely been in the news, at least not in the Orlando metropolitan area.

I am disgusted at the Altamonte Springs' P.D. for the choice of agendas as it would lead me to believe that they have too much time on their hands and no crime in the city to contend with or investigate. On the other hand, I applaud the fact that they pursued the male consumer that enables such transactions to begin with. Too often law enforcement goes after the party on the other side of that transaction.

I find the practice of these sting operations to be questionable from a moral and legal standpoint. The cops post the explicit ad – and it had to be to compete with other ads in the "erotic services" category – and become the new enabler of the transaction involving sex and money. Would these johns have located anyone if not for the ad? The answer is that they probably would have, but it is the equivalent of law enforcement talking a person into a drug transaction and it doesn't pass the smell test. Would that person have participated in any drug transaction had the opportunity not been thrown in their face?

The Florida Today newspaper in Brevard County arrived today with the headline, "Deputy Jobs Hanging in Budget Balance." In reading the article I discovered that they are considering firing 31 deputies if more funds do not come through. Though I do feel for those particular 31 deputies, I considered this good news as I fear cops far more than I fear any criminal element, and in some cases the cops are the criminals. I admit that cops scare me, but not because I do anything wrong – because the police officer is the most powerful person around. It's the power trippers that scare me, and there are plenty of them.

Does anyone see the irony in this? They all cry crocodile tears for more funds and then use those funds to support a morals and religious agenda. Sure it is two different police departments that are an hour drive from one another, but I have heard those crocodile tears from prosecutors and law enforcement from one end of Florida to the other. They run through unknown sums of money pursuing ridiculous agendas and then wonder why it has finally run out and there is no more.