Task Force formed to stop prostitution • New body seen to fight other crimes against tourists

Dire need forced Commonwealth leaders to take another shot at navigating a potent solution that would finally put a halt to a series of illegal rackets especially prolific at Saipan’s focal business district.

Governor Pedro P. Tenorio disclosed yesterday of a government-initiated plan that organized Tuesday a special task force dedicated at eradicating blots of illicit operations enterprised by certain groups and individuals in the Western Garapan area.

The mission of the newly-instituted task force, led by Attorney General Herb Soll, is to provide concrete solutions with regard to mounting problems of prostitution and increasing crimes committed against the island’s tourists, according to the local chief executive.

“These illegal activities compromise the image of the CNMI as a safe tourist destination,” said Mr. Tenorio, in an interview.

Both public and private agencies are partners in this fresh move to rid Western Garapan streets of commercial sex workers, thieves, robbers, and other unlawful elements.

All government agencies have reportedly pledged active involvement in the initiative, in apparently a last-ditch effort to save the local tourism industry.

Cabinet members under Mr. Tenorio’s administration displayed interest to counteract the pressing concerns by showing up at an emergency meeting spearheaded by the Marianas Visitors Authority Tuesday afternoon.

MVA called for the meeting amid persistent clamors from members of the business sector and the surrounding community of the dangers presented by prostitution and other criminal activities at Saipan’s busiest commercial zone.

A survey commissioned by the Department of Public Safety conducted from Sept. 2000 to Dec. 2000 top-billed prostitution as the most prevalent concern in the area.

Prostitution equally tied with public parking in the list of the district’s most pressing concerns. Purse snatching, theft, burglary, sewage, trash bins, closed roads, street market, and littering completed the roster of problems a tourist destination venue can certainly do without.

Business owners particularly have long been pleading authorities to put a halt to the proliferation of prostitution on Saipan especially as these alleged sex workers have been known to encroach on their establishments’ premises in going about their “business” deals.

While police authorities and community members both agree that prostitution is an act that is so hard to prove, businesses especially hotel establishments are seeking a solution to this burning social problem.

Around the nation, statistics from the National Task Force on Prostitution states that over one million people in the US have been employed as sex workers, or about 1 percent of American women.

This figure is according to records compiled in the 1980s. Statistics further reveal that average prostitution arrests in the US mainland include 70 percent females, 20 percent male prostitutes and 10 percent customers.

Over the years, strong and heated debates have been devoted to the issues on prostitution. Today, there is reportedly no official definition of legalized decriminalized prostitution.

According to research, most societies that allow prostitution do so by giving the state control over the lives and businesses of those who work as prostitutes.