Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in Donate today. Residents in Corona, Queens are growing frustrated that sex workers solicit passersby on Roosevelt Avenue despite a recent police crackdown. Police and activists said the rise of open-air sex work coincides with the influx of new migrants who are desperate for employment.
But in the last five years, the NYPD has shifted from arresting sex workers to targeting the establishments that employ them. In January, police shut down 13 massage parlors on Roosevelt Avenue they said were operating as brothels, but police officials said new ones have taken their place. And while police officials said arresting sex workers is not the answer, they also conceded that the sting operations they've been leaning on have not led to a long-term fix. Stanislav Levitsky said. Just a temporary setback.
There were about 20, prostitution arrests in , and about 2, a decade ago. Meanwhile, just took place last year, according to data shared with Gothamist by the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College. At the same time, several local district attorneys have stopped pursuing prostitution charges and dismissed existing cases. Police said closing unlicensed massage parlors is one way to curb sex work without arresting individual sex workers, but added that those efforts can be ineffective.
Police then serve these closing orders, as they did alongside Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year. But the legal process takes several months, Levitsky said. Prosecutors vary on how they pursue prostitution-related cases.
While the Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn district attorneys have stopped pursuing most prostitution charges, their Queens and Staten Island counterparts prosecuted every prostitution charge in , according to the John Jay data. A spokesperson for Queens DA Melinda Katz said her office focuses on prosecuting sex trafficking, not sex work, and that people arrested for prostitution are connected with services. Latimer added that people pass along the work opportunities through word of mouth.
