LAKEWOOD — Prostitution isn’t just a street-corner proposition anymore, with “call girls” placing ads and arranging encounters on the Internet.
To discourage the new pattern, Lakewood officials are considering an ordinance that would require “escorts” and escort services to be licensed.
A public hearing on the issue is set during the 7:30 p.m. Monday council meeting.
Street prostitutes were targeted in an “area restriction” plan instituted three years ago in which those convicted of the crime could not return to their West Colfax Avenue haunts.
Despite the measure, prostitution “absolutely is growing,” said Lakewood Detective Brent Struck.
“The street girls are moving inside to the Internet,” Struck said. “We’re just seeing more of the outcall business because of Craigslist and other Internet sites.”
Customers, also referred to as “johns” and “hobbyists” by police, prowl the Internet ads and call. A runner — usually a boyfriend or a pimp — takes the escort to a customer’s home or to a motel room.
Lakewood’s law would require escorts, runners and escort-service workers to be photographed, fingerprinted and submit to a background check that includes a criminal history.
Deputy City Attorney Janet Young said the application fee would cost $50; a criminal-history check, $37.50; and there would be a yearly $25 renewal fee.
The penalty for being apprehended and convicted of not having a license is a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, or both.
“We don’t think very many will come in to be licensed,” Young said.
But it’s another tool for police to investigate the crimes and to keep track of who is involved, Struck said.
In the past two years, Lakewood police have been actively investigating the outcall business, conducting eight stings that resulted in 41 arrests on city prostitution offenses.
Since a state escort law was passed in the early 1980s, Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Littleton and Westminster have imposed licensing.
Few escorts have applied.
Cmdr. Rick Millwright of the Colorado Springs vice and narcotics unit said only one escort service is “willingly licensed” in the Springs.
Last year, Colorado Springs made 15 prostitution arrests, with five also charged with a license violation.
“If you can’t get a prostitution charge, you can always fall back on the regulatory charge,” Millwright said.
Struck said the ordinance will come in handy. “These girls know no boundaries,” he said. “We want the word out that Lakewood is proactively prosecuting prostitution-related crimes.”
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
