Internet Changing The Game In Prostitution Sting Operations

Both the Kershaw County Sheriff’s office and Springdale police department say the internet has been making them work a bit harder.

[gtxvideo vid=’vEmOUfOE’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/vEmOUfOE.jpg’ vtitle=’PROSTITUTION STING’]

Kershaw County held their own sting in the month of July, which led to the arrest of 10 people for solicitation.

“It was quite easy. There were plenty of guys trolling the internet looking for this, and they came over here expecting something other than what they got, which was a trip to the jail,” James Matthews said, sheriff for Kershaw County.

Sheriff’s and deputies have learned it is a different game when trying to catch Johns and takes an about a month to prepare for the operation.

“Now, it’s not the same where you just drive around in a truck or a car and pickup a prostitute on the side of the road. Most of them now are running them off of an internet site, or something like that. So we have to learn how to speak that lingo because it’s different than the lingo when they had when they were standing on the corners,” Kevin Cornett said, Police Chief for Springdale.

Together, Kershaw County Sheriff’s and the Springdale police department brought in about 22 individuals for solicitation. And they say without the internet, they may not have had the numbers that they did.

“Before, we probably didn’t have half as much, but because it’s now something posted on the internet, now it’s not specific to that location. We had one individual drive from Shaw air force base to us,” Cornett said.

Both departments say they are hoping that this serves as a warning for those looking for illegal activity and makes them think twice before coming into their communities.

“We’re not going to turn a blind eye to it, and maybe it gets the message out… if guys want to go look for that, they can go look in some other county,” Matthews said.