Business owners air disgust on prostitution in Garapan • Respondents to the DPS survey list nine other major problems in the district

A Department of Public Safety-commissioned survey conducted from September to December 2000 equally top-billed prostitution and public parking as the most prevalent concern in the Western Garapan district.

Majority of survey respondents also listed purse snatching, theft, burglary, sewage, trash bins, closed roads, street market, and littering under the tourist commercial district’s 10 most pressing problems.

DPS officers Chong Won and Jason Tarkong unveiled results of the study during its monthly Western Garapan Community meeting yesterday which drew the presence of over 25 business proprietors and community members.

Business owners particularly pled 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.

Based on countless experiences, a representative from the Hyatt Regency Saipan testified that he has encountered similar groups of ladies with different companions who frequent the hotel from a daily to a weekly basis.

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.

“I think what’s needed here is that we have to seek clarity to the definition of what prostitution is, otherwise if the law cannot be enforced by the authorities, then we all have to ask our lawmakers to review the existing policies so that it can be reinforced,” said the Hyatt official.

Mr. Tarkong agreed an immediate measure to resolve prostitution must be implemented with conjoint efforts from both community members and the government.

DPS officers also reintroduced laws on prostitution, underscoring that individuals who solicit sex trade may also face charges.

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 one percent of American women.

This figure is based on records compiled in the 1980s. Statistics further reveal that average prostitution arrests in the mainland US 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.

The terms included in the legalization of the oldest profession in the world often broach on special taxes for prostitutes, restricting prostitutes to working in brothels or in certain zones, licenses, registration of prostitutes and government records of individual prostitutes, and health checks which often means punitive quarantine.