Police uses facebook to curb prostitution in u.s.

In Richmond, the capital of Virginia the streets of which have a history of prostitution, John shaming' is one way that police try to wipe out prostitution, the police department has been using a new weapon to curb the flesh trade: social media.Richmond police conducted a sting in which undercover officers posing as prostitutes, helped bust 11 men for solicitation. “We have a wire, which recorded a lot of the conversations between the men and the undercover officers,” said police Lt Andre Hill.

What the suspects didn’t know then is that by the next day, their faces would be on the department’s Facebook page. “It’s a technique used to shame and embarrass the suspects,” he said.The practice to restrict prostitution by public shaming of clients is called ‘John shaming’. It was six months ago that the Richmond police decided to use Facebook in ‘John Shaming’.

Residents say that the condition has improved after the police has started posting photos of clients on Facebook.“Traffic has slowed down, there’s very few that come by here during the day,” said a local shop owner.However, critics of this practice argue posting the photos is too harsh a punishment that lasts for too long a time. But Mr Hill said that the photos are taken off after a period of time.