Introduction

The Johns

The Results

The Media

Links

The following is a summary of events that have transpired over the past week.

On Sunday, August 8th, 1999, our website was launched at 6:00pm. A-Channel, a local television station, reported that the Victoria Park community decided to fight prostitution using technology. Within minutes of the 1st broadcast we were logging massive hits.

With each day that passed, radio stations, like CBC and QR77; television stations, like Shaw TV and Calgary 7; and newspapers, like the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, and the National Post were requesting interviews. The final articles are expected to be in print and on screen by the time you read this.

In the last two days, the pimps have avoided walking down our streets, the prostitutes try to avoid the area, and the police have decided to increase their presence with more check stops and a bicycle cop patrolling the area. Six members of our community stood outside waiting for johns to circle our block, but were left with empty notepads and a quiet evening. We do not want this to sound like a miraculous event. The problem has not disappeared, but has been reduced significantly enough to amaze a lot of people.

There has also been a lot of talk about the rights of the people who constantly circle our block. The media had interviewed a civil libertarian and a high profile lawyer who talked about the rights of these people. In theory, I don't think any of our community members would disagree with either of them, however, the men circling our community day after day, sometimes for hours at a time were not innocently driving around. We aren't "seeing things" or "picking on individuals". We are professional, level headed people who saw the reality of a situation.

We know that this high-tech solution does not solve the problem completely, but it has reduced the traffic significantly and has therefore reduced the prostitutes and the pimps from our area. It is impossible to say if this is a temporary solution, but for all intensive purposes the site has accomplished in four days what two months of asking for help from local law enforcement and politicians could not do.