19 Arrested In Baltimore Prostitution Sting Operation, BPD Commissioner Says
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore police have arrested 19 men after a two-week prostitution sting operation that mainly focused on the Brooklyn community, with other arrests made in the Patapsco Ave corridor, Garrison neighborhood and the O'Donnell Heights neighborhood.
The men, ages ranging from 26-78, were arrested between November 4 and November 15.
They are all charged with solicitation of an undercover officer for the purposes of prostitution.
They said the operation in part came about based on complaints from residents they had received.
"We heard you, we've always heard you. We promised we'd do something about it, we're delivering on that promise," BPD Commissioner Michael Harrison said.
The only enforcement action was taken against the men at this time, Harrison added.
The commissioner was asked why the police department is using resources on an undercover prostitution sting when Baltimore is seeing so much violence, and he responded, "We focus on violence in our city, we do all of it, and it is just like the person who might complain about that if they called us for their house, to their home for something they may have thought was important we would come,"
The Brooklyn community has been impacted by the illegal sex trade, and Baltimore as a whole has felt the effects of the illegal sex trade and more specifically- human sex trafficking.