PGPD takes a page from the Cops handbook.

By Matt Cohen and Sarah Anne Hughes

Today in “yes, really:” Police in Prince George’s County will live-tweet a prostitution sting next week, a move advocates for people involved in sex work say is “counterproductive” and a waste of resources.

“We won’t tell you when or where,” a blog post from the PG Police Department reads, “other than it’s somewhere in the county sometime next week.” PGPD’s Vice Unit will apparently provide live updates of the sting via Twitter. In what sounds like a terribly misguided attempt to give people a look at the police department’s inner workings, PGPD says they’ll “show you how the [they’re] battling the oldest profession…from ads to the arrests.” That includes releasing suspect photos and information about them on social media.

PGPD says they’re using a “progressive” and perhaps “unprecedented social media tactic to warn any potential participants that this type of criminal behavior is not welcome in Prince George’s County.”

But Cyndee Clay, executive director of HIPS — a D.C. organization that “promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange” through several programs including mobile outreach — says this campaign is neither of those things.

“We’re disappointed to hear that they continue to perpetuate the same shame and victim blaming tactics that have proven, at best ineffective in addressing the issue of prostitution,” Clay said. “Shame and arrest often only perpetuate’s people entrapment in prostitution or sex work, as research has shown, by creating a revolving door of incarceration, and there is little to no evidence that they end demand.”

Clay said PGPD should go beyond “attention-grabbing” tactics that do nothing to address the root causes of the issue and help the people involved. In response, HIPS will live-tweet “a day of service showing actual ways to help reduce victimization, violence, and health issues that are often associated with prostitution,” she said.