This was written by a friend of mine and published in the Ottawa Citizen.
Re: Police kept busy during two-day prostitution sweep, June 16.
It was disheartening to read the Citizen's enthusiastic and uncritical coverage of the Ottawa Police's latest opportunity to "get paid to play dress-up" as the story described what the undercover officers did while conducting street sweeps that further marginalize street-level sex workers and compromise their safety.
In 2006, the majority of the House of Commons subcommittee on solicitation laws agreed that prostitution is best dealt with as a public health rather than a criminal issue, and recommended that governments focus on the health and safety of sex workers, rather than criminalizing consenting adults who choose to exchange sexual services for money.
When the Parliament of Canada recognizes that criminalization does more harm than good, it is unfortunate that the Ottawa Police continues to be allowed to "play dress-up" on the taxpayer's dime rather than focusing their efforts on ensuring the safety of sex workers and maybe directing some of their costume budget to addressing the health and social service needs of street sex workers.
Chris Boodram,
Ottawa
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Police%20wrong%20focus%20Ottawa%20trade/3198167/story.html#ixzz0s3YeHDXh