Sixteen people are facing misdemeanor prostitution charges after an undercover Mobile Police Department operation that relied on officers arranging exchanges through websites.
Operation Snag Targets Street-Level Trade
The arrests came out of Operation Snag, a sweep run this week by the department’s Narcotics and Vice Unit. Officers posed as prostitutes during the operation, which police described as an effort to curb street-level prostitution that is frequently tied to more serious offenses.
Maj. John Barber of the Mobile Police Department said the unit pursues these cases because illegal sex transactions so often escalate into robbery or worse.
“We have worked many cases over the years where deals go bad,” Barber said, describing scenarios in which a person expecting to purchase sex is instead met by multiple suspects intent on robbing them — incidents he said have ranged from shootings to homicides.
Barber said police see the operation as a way of attacking the larger crimes connected to the illegal sex trade rather than simply writing up misdemeanors. The 16 arrests were all misdemeanor prostitution charges, and no additional offenses were announced in connection with the sweep.