CRIME You can now have your vehicle permanently seized if you solicit a prostitute

http://cbs3.com/topstories/Johns.Law.Prostitute.2.765579.html

Easton Proposes New Prostitution Law

A new proposal in Northampton County could leave those who try to solicit prostitutes without a car.

Easton City Council has proposed the 'John's Law', which would give authorities the right to seize someone's vehicle if they try to solicit a prostitute.

The summer season is when prostitution is most prevalent in the City of Easton.

If the new law passes, police will permanently seize the vehicle of a person caught soliciting a prostitute. This law is already in practice in Chicago and Memphis.

In Pennsylvania, state law allows police to seize vehicles found in drug deals.

"After they are found guilty, then it sounds reasonable. Before they have gone to court or there has been any kind of judicial procedure, then it's against the Constitution,' said Easton resident James Mason.

Some question how the law will stand up in court because soliciting a prostitute in Pennsylvania is only considered a misdemeanor.

Council will vote on the ordinance on July 9.

This "law" is on the books in many jurisdictions, and has been for a long time.

I read once on TB about how to solicit a prositute and NEVER get arrested. When the hooker asks what you want to do, you say "I want to take nude photos of you." A cop will NEVER go for that, because it's a LEGAL activity and there's no crime being committed. A REAL hooker doesn't care, and would be willing to pose for those pics as long as some "standard fee" were agreed upon. Once in the private area, I'd assume that a "renegotiation of activities to be performed" would be done.

The things one learns on TB.....

Naughty vehicles.....

Yeah.....

Darn it....

I miss my truck.

{just kidding guys!}

BFC

Then if you have a Loan on the car, and stop paying because you don't have said car, your credit gets whacked, your interest rates go way up, you lose your job, the wife leaves you, the house gets foreclosed, etc...

Bottom line; Drive a beater.

Jim

What if your in a Taxi? :P

What if you are in your wife's car?
What if you are in your teenagers car?
What if you drive one of those Prius cars that are so good for the environment?
What if you don't own a car? Will they take your bike, horse, legs?
Who gets the car?

They had recently caught some utility workers on the clock in the company truck soliciting, wonder if they got the utility truck?

Drive a beater?


Illegal Aliens do the same thing. They drive throw away cars cost only a few hundred ($500-$600) hell of alot cheaper than a lawyer's retainer fee.

No lic, no insurance, it they are stopped, car is towed....No Big deal they just walk away, cheapest and safest thing they can do.


B-T-W I think this and other laws where your property is seized before you are convicted should be unconstitutional. If found innocent you pay huge storage fees (another reason illegals abandon cars)

Dennis Olson said:

This "law" is on the books in many jurisdictions, and has been for a long time.

I read once on TB about how to solicit a prositute and NEVER get arrested. When the hooker asks what you want to do, you say "I want to take nude photos of you." A cop will NEVER go for that, because it's a LEGAL activity and there's no crime being committed. A REAL hooker doesn't care, and would be willing to pose for those pics as long as some "standard fee" were agreed upon. Once in the private area, I'd assume that a "renegotiation of activities to be performed" would be done.

The things one learns on TB.....

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Sorry, Dennis, but if it's a sting, the "renegotiations" in the room will be on tape and the bust still goes down.

If it's not a sting, the john only has to worry about STDs, being set up for robbery, and those kinds of "fun" things.

If someone wants a hooker all he needs to do is go to where it is legal and then have the time of his life.

Maureen

So that means if you give a donation to a politician during election season they are going to confiscate your car??

Sorry, my bad.

Don't solicit a prostitute and you don't have to worry about it.

Maureen, what I meant was that no undercover cop will "hire on" for nude pics, because there's no crime being committed. Normally, hookers are solicited off the street, and a cop wouldn't go with the perp unless she was sure of a bust.

Asset forfeiture is just plain wrong! It gives the .gov types a profit incentive to make more and more things illegal.

I think you should have MORE than just your car seized! A Sam Kinison sketch about marriage is coming to mind... "you won't be needing THAT anymore..."

Sam Kinneson was among my very favorite comedians. Taken too young....

Thievery

Confiscation of any personal private property is nothing more than more .gov thievery. Cops who go along with this are nothing more than uniformed thugs. Thugs? Get it? No typo. Right up there with the Robert Mugabe/Zimbabwe uniformed thugs.

Am I anti-cop? No. I'm a former serving deputy sheriff, have a heavy background in security/military and currently hold an (inactive) commission in our county's SO. I'm for the 2nd Amendment, the death penalty and most of the other cherished right-wing stuff ;-)...but I have a huge libertarian streak.

Bust the criminals? Sure! Prosecute vigorously? Sure! Execute the child molesters? I'll throw the switch!

Pervert the law to allow seizure of private property by the state and other forms of bogus "revenue enhancement"? It's - by any other name - theivery and those who participate in it are thugs. Period.

FWIW, in most juristictions, soliciting a hooker is a petty misdemeanor. Right up there in some cases with things like failing to keep your grass cut or littering. Yeah, sure. Confiscate some poor sap's $20,000 car 'cuz he was horny, and maybe stupid and indiscreet. That's real justice, right? I suppose those who support that sort of thing are also on board with confiscating someones' house if they write a bad check, which depending on amount and juristiction can be a felony, even if they make it good. I mean, you know, if they sat at their kitchen table and wrote the check, the house - GASP - was involved in the crime!

Too many cops are all in favor of the confiscation BS as it often results in their department getting new goodies. I've yet to hear any of them criticize the basic unfairness and lack of proportion these things represent.

It is exactly this sort of thing that has more and more middle class Americans perceiving the police as their enemy. It used to be that the police generally saw the "underclasses" as unsupportive of them, but could rely on the great silent majority for support. This dynamic is changing and the police have themselves - mostly - to blame.

Best regards
Doc

SomeAverageJoe said:

What if your in a Taxi? :P

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Funny you mention that. I remember back when crack first hit the streets of NYC back in the 80's and the cops said they would be taking cars of anyone buying crack. It seems the druggies started to get smart, and parked their cars a few blocks away and took cabs to the drug spots.

They also parked a few subway stops away, hopped out of the car, hopped on the subway and hoofed it to the drug spot.

Other then a few high profile people.. I don't remember hearing much about cars getting taken away from drug buyers in the 80's

I had a friend who was driving us to a Yankee game in the Bronx one time. We got lost and had to turn around, and ended up in a seriously bad area. Ok picture it.. two white kids, in a drug area, around 5 PM.. haha and yes, the cops stopped us. Gave us all sorts of hell, searched the car, I Kept telling them we were going to the Yankee game and got lost.. they didn't want to hear it They were sure we were there to buy drugs. After I showed them our tickets, and they could not find any drugs, they let us go.. with a stern warning about "Never wanting to see us in this area again" They did keep saying that if they found one drop of anything, the city was taking his car..

Dennis Olson said:

Maureen, what I meant was that no undercover cop will "hire on" for nude pics, because there's no crime being committed. Normally, hookers are solicited off the street, and a cop wouldn't go with the perp unless she was sure of a bust.

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Yeah, that's true but she's got a nose about her that can smell a bust.

Personally, I think the john should be field cited and a CC of the cite mailed to his wife or girlfriend. Let her handle him. Transporting and booking him is a waste of energy and fuel and he ends up much worse if his woman takes care of it. She'll be much harder on him than we'll ever be.

Mo

LONEWOLF said:

Naughty vehicles.....

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Yup, people don't hire hookers, vehicles do...


There's madness everywhere.

blueridge,

You see 'em coupling everywhere - ordinary, everyday looking cars, hooked up as it were, to big Ford trucks with cranes hanging off the back - doggy-style. Jeez, get a room already...!

Amaryllis said:

What if you are in your wife's car?
What if you are in your teenagers car?
What if you drive one of those Prius cars that are so good for the environment?
What if you don't own a car? Will they take your bike, horse, legs?
Who gets the car?

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If it,s your wife's car, better hide the saving and get a good divorce lawyer
If it's your teenagers car, your auto ins rates should go down
If it,s a Prius, Pray the arresting officer, hates the Global Warming crap and lets you go....
And if you dont own a car, means you have NO car loan or auto ins and proably no woman. So taking a taxi down to the ole saloon, for some 3 D's drinking, dancing and Dirty Thang, is better than watching ESPN or worst Lifetime channel

WELL

I guess Fred is going to take to riding his bicyle downtown on payday night......................

dragonslayer2001 said:

I guess Fred is going to take to riding his bicyle downtown on payday night......................

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Everybody knows better than to go looking for a streetwalker. Ain't you seen Craigslist?