PGPD takes a page from the Cops handbook.

A prostitution sting that police said would be live-tweeted, “progressive” and perhaps “unprecedented” took place yesterday without any tweets or arrests.

Police in Prince George’s County “conducted a planned sting targeting johns” over several hours yesterday, according to a blog post, which resulted in zero arrests.

“I’ve participated in hundreds of stings, and I’ve never seen what happened today,” Sergeant Dave Coleman, the office in charge of the Vice Intelligence Unit said in the post. “By advertising this days ago, we wanted to put johns on notice to not come to Prince George’s County. That message was heard loud and clear. We just put a dent in the human trafficking business without making one arrest.”

According to the post, undercover officers were concerned about compromising their identifies and “it was no longer prudent to tweet the information about the sting in real-time.” This after the sting’s announcement prompted criticism from advocates for sex workers and garnered national attention.

One of those critics, D.C.-based group HIPS, is planning to live-tweet a day of services from their drop-in center and mobile outreach unit “which provides education, counseling, assistance in crisis and other services and advocacy for individuals who engage in sex work, their families and communities.” Executive director Cyndee Clay said the event is still on.

“We’re thrilled that community pressure stopped PG County from live tweeting the sting, even if they offered ‘alternative’ reasons,” Clay said in an email. “I definitely think this shows a wider community call and willingness for a better conversation about addressing prostitution in our communities. HIPS plan is to continue the dialogue and call for a meeting between HIPS, other organizations, sex workers and PG County officials, law enforcement, and health department to build a plan for effective approaches in PG County.”