A resident of Sault Ste. Marie is concerned with the problem of prostitution in her neighbourhood.
The woman, who has asked not to be identified, told SooToday.com she has seen women in the sex trade approaching customers on her street and on several nearby streets.
“They’re right across the street from me. When I look out the window, that’s what I see.”
The resident told us: “It doesn’t happen every night, but sometimes every night for five or six nights in a row.”
“I’ve seen them getting into cars. The ‘Johns’ (clients of prostitutes) know where to go,” she stated.
There are usually one or two women at once standing on the street, she says.
“One of them will get picked up and then a different one will come along.”
The resident told us she has approached the women on the street before and has asked them to leave the area.
“They tell me to keep off their corner.”
“The Police have told them to move along, and they do. Sometimes there’s not enough evidence for them to make an arrest.”
The resident told us she has contacted Sault Ste. Marie Police Service this week, along with the two City Councillors who represent her ward.
“It lowers the quality of life in the neighbourhood,” the resident told us. “I just don’t like it. There are children here, people who walk their dogs. I have talked to the police, and they do their best.”
“I have nothing against the women, but it’s not good to see them on the corner. It brings in drugs and crime,” she stated.
Though the presence of used needles may not be related to the presence of prostitution in this particular case, the resident told us: “In the past I’ve found needles in my hedge. My neighbours have found needles and so have I.”
She said she would like to see a storefront police office in the neighbourhood, adding surveillance cameras near her area would be another good option.
Constable Sonny Spina of Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, speaking to SooToday.com, said while there are no stakeouts in place, “Officers on patrol are aware of the problems in any given area.”
Spina said: “We’ll continue to respond to these calls when we receive complaints, and we are going to respond appropriately.”
When asked about the area the resident is concerned with, Spina did not characterize it as a problem area.
“Things are different from day to day. We take every incident as an individual incident, and we treat it and investigate it as such. We don’t paint every incident with the same brush. We don’t apply evidence from other investigations to subsequent investigations.”
In August 2012, nine women were charged with prostitution in a four-day police operation in the area of Albert Street East near Gore Street.
In another sting, 20 men in Sault Ste. Marie were charged in August 2010 with obtaining the services of a prostitute.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2012 found that rules outlawing bawdy houses violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and were unconstitutional.
That ruling has been challenged by the federal government and will go before the Supreme Court of Canada.
Meantime, the rules against street walkers are clear.
Section 213 of the Criminal Code of Canada states:
Every person who in a public place or in any place open to public view:
(a) stops or attempts to stop any motor vehicle,
(b) impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or ingress to or egress from premises adjacent to that place, or
(c) stops or attempts to stop any person or in any manner communicates or attempts to communicate with any person for the purpose of engaging in prostitution or of obtaining the sexual services of a prostitute is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
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