Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jul 2005
Source: Peoria Journal Star (IL)
Copyright: 2005sPeoria Journal Star
Contact:  http://pjstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/338
Author: Terry Bibo, Columnist, Peoria Journal Star

'SHAMING' HAS LONG HISTORY IN PEORIA

If you want to discuss the pros and cons of shaming people over 
prostitution, the Peoria City Council can call on some local experts.

Our police chief and city manager may or may not have known this, but 
the idea has been trotted out before. We've got at least one local 
former attorney and two members of the council itself who could offer 
some insight.

First, as the Journal Star's managing editor notes, shaming johns is 
how Chase Ingersoll first made headlines 10 years ago. That's before 
he was disbarred, which might be both noteworthy and 
not-coincidental. Now the city appears to be following his lead. 
Chase approves.

"I find it far more important to keep the sex trade off the streets 
than I do keeping it off the Police Department's Web site," he posted 
on his own Web site Tuesday, chastising a Journal Star editorial. 
"Allow me to offer an alternative thought. It is criminality that 
leads to these dire consequences, not the act of holding criminals 
accountable."

Fresh out of law school, then 25-year-old Ingersoll started by filing 
million-dollar civil suits against johns on behalf of beleaguered 
neighbors. He used what he called "legal extortion," sending letters 
to johns offering to settle out of court for $1,000. His efforts got 
him in the Chicago Tribune and on NBC's "Dateline," but how much of 
the proceeds actually went to neighborhood groups was always a little fuzzy.

A little later in his controversial career, the city paid $9,990 to 
settle a civil lawsuit he'd filed for being falsely arrested. That 
might also give the city pause.

Potential legal liability ranks high on the list of cautions raised 
by At-large Councilman Gary Sandberg and 2nd District Councilwoman 
Barbara Van Auken. Our police chief and city manager may or may not 
have known that shaming someone because he was linked to a prostitute 
has some history there, as well.

Sandberg was never even arrested, much less found guilty of anything, 
when he was picked up for giving a "known prostitute" a ride in 1993. 
The rookie officer who gave him a warning for making two right-hand 
turns without a signal didn't recognize the councilman, but she did 
recognize the rider as a convicted hooker. Still, his name was 
splashed all over the place.

Sandberg has maintained he didn't know the woman's background but was 
merely on a pizza run and granted her request for a ride.

Being publicly linked with a prostitute does have its effects. He and 
Van Auken were married at the time. Neither has forgotten. "That's an 
issue and an episode I don't want to talk about," she said, adding 
the subject is still painful 12 years later.

On the other hand, its effects were not what you might suppose. The 
smear did not stop Sandberg from being re-elected.

"It's affected me financially, but not politically," Sandberg said. 
"Again, it was politically motivated. Unfortunately, that's the 
danger. Because I think a lot of this is politically motivated."

Both council people prefer to focus on what happens next.

"That has not played a part in forming my opinion," Van Auken said. 
"Going to law school - that played a part in forming my opinion."

And a lawyer assesses the potential risks vs. the potential benefits. 
Mistakenly name someone for soliciting a prostitute, which is a 
misdemeanor, and the city could pay big bucks.

"To me, if we're going to risk the liability, I would also like to do 
drug users and sellers," she says. "If we're going to risk it, let's 
go for the source."

Yes. Odds are excellent that drugs cause prostitution rather than the 
other way around. And Sandberg takes that logic a step further.

"If we're doing it for a misdemeanor, why not for more serious 
crimes? Why not for murder?" he said.

Good question. Why not for rape? You have to wonder if shaming will 
get that far. Sandberg predicts it will blow up in the Police 
Department's face. And he's going to let it. He has his own ideas 
about deterrents.

"If we do anything wrong and there's economic consequences . . . I 
think it should come out of the police chief's salary and the city 
manager's salary," he said.