Czech town to fine clients of street prostitutes

The town of Chomutov, Czech Republic has had huge problems with street prostitution since the 1990’s. As of the first day of this year it has had a municipal ordinance in force, pursuant to which anyone caught soliciting a prostitute will pay a fine. Before the ordinance was adopted, only the street prostitutes could face fines if caught. Deputy Mayor of the city told a local daily newspaper that the city administration hopes the ordinance will discourage most potential clients and the women will disappear from the public streets and places. According to the ordinance, the soliciting of a prostitute is a misdemeanor “of a very sensitive nature” which is “investigated” by the municipal authority, i.e. something most men would prefer to avoid.

In addition, Chomutov Municipal Police decided in 2008 to publish photos of drivers soliciting roadside prostitutes near main roads, where doing so resulted in road rule violations and related problems. However, since the applicable law did not allow the immediate identification of the drivers (clients), this measure proved ineffective.

Most women in the Czech Republic who offer sex for money have their own tiny apartments (sometimes shared by more girls/women). Naturally, they pay no income taxes because there is no way of proving that their encounters with men actually constitute prostitution. Chomutov is near the Czech-German border where foreign truckers and German citizens were the most common clients of the local prostitutes. In the recent years, however, the demand for these services has decreased rapidly.

Clients Of Street Hookers To Be Photographed

The city of Chomutov near the Czech-German border has big problems with street hookers who mostly “do their business” along the main avenue that is connected to the highway to Germany. The municipality came up with a novel instrument how to get rid of them. Any car that stops to solicit a prostitute will be photographed and the photo will be sent to the owner’s address and it will also be published on the Internet, local daily reports.

The clients of these hookers are mostly Germans. The city council hopes that they will be afraid of “public shame” and so they will no longer stop for the hookers. They will we warned in advance that the particular street is monitored by surveillance cameras, so that the whole idea complies with the Czech law on personal data protection.

To me it seems like an attempt to punish the clients. It is NOT against the law to seek services of a prostitute, and prostitution as such is LEGAL in the Czech Republic as well. What is NOT legal, though, is to offer these services at places that municipalities list as restricted. But these regulations are hard to enforce, city officials everywhere say.