Police in Hallandale Beach, FL went pretty far to arrest three women for prostitution at a massage parlor. Officers stripped naked, even leaving their service weapons behind for the sting at MemeX Massage Parlor. During one trip, a masseuse identified as "Nikki" ordered an officer to "turn over" and intentionally grazed an his penis with her hand, then simulated an "up and down" masturbation motion.
The officer turned it down, and Shu Yuan “Nikki” Sun was arrested along with Ying “Lulu” Zhao and Yan Wang. Though the operation was successful, the Sun Sentinel talked to a public defender in Broward County who characterized these busts as risky, if not disgusting. Not only do they put officers—who discard their weapons and radios along with their clothes—at risk, they do very little to combat prostitution.
"It is seedy, back-alley, icky, and we don't want our cops doing that, especially so when it's meaningless," says Howard Finkelstein. Florida reportedly ranks third in the nation in cases of human trafficking involving women from China being used as sex slaves.
As long as police aren't getting hurt and don't take things as far as Jimmy McNulty did during that infamous scene from The Wire, these stings will continue.
[via NY Daily News]
