Trading on Hunts Point’s reputation, pimps continue to bring their women to the area.
By Shuli Levine
slevi@hunter.cuny.edu
Residents should “see these girls as victims, under the control of pimps,” says Julie Laurence, the clinical director of G.E.M.S (Girls Education and Mentoring Service).
G.E.M.S. is working with Bronx Community Solutions to find alternatives to incarceration. The prostitutes, she said, “need services and support rather than be criminalized.”
Two to three times a week employees from the G.E.M.S. street outreach come to Hunts Point to provide information to the sex-workers and give them packets that include condoms, shampoo, and wipes, among other materials. They also provide outreach at the Horizon Juvenile Detention Center in Mott Haven and have met with various Hunts Point community service programs, including the Police Department and representatives from the DA’s office, as well as The Point, HPAC, and SOBRO.
Detective A. Warick, a community affairs officer at the 41st Precinct, said that many residents of Hunts Point consider prostitution a quality of life crime. It’s not, he contends. He explained that prostitution is associated with drugs, which lead to weapons which lead to money. “When there’s money, there’s violence,” he said.
Acknowledging that many residents feel the police are not doing anything about prostitution, Warick traced the problem back to the court system. Because of a lack of jail space, he said, sex-workers, including those with repeat offenses, are held for no more than two days.
Lack of manpower at the precinct is also a problem. Warick agreed that having more officers on the street would help, but added, “I’m not gonna tell people at the meetings that we’ll have foot officers out there.”