The London Police Service launched an initiative on October 21 with the goal of keeping prospective johns out of areas frequented by prostitutes.

The eight-week program will see more police patrolling areas such as Maitland Street through the Dundas Street corridor, the Hamilton Road corridor and the South of Horton (SoHo) district, which are areas known to be frequented by prostitutes.

Police will pull over and interview any suspicious car they see in the area. "There has to be a demonstrated activity that we believe is actually engaging with the sex trade worker," explained London Police Chief Brad Duncan. "It's not going to be a simple situation where a car is seen; we are going to be tactful about that, and we have provisions in terms of what we expect."

After pulling the john over and warning him not to come back to the area, police will send a letter to the driver's home reminding him to stay away from the area.

In the first four hours of the program, on the morning of October 21, police stopped a total of 11 cars. "We were able to locate and charge four men for purpose of communication of prostitution ... we also stopped seven drive-away persons who were engaged and questioned as to why they were in the area," said Duncan. All 11 men will receive letters in the mail.

If the letter campaign does not do enough to deter potential johns, Duncan warned that London Police Services will take the program one step further: posting johns' names to the public on the police website. Since soliciting a prostitute is a criminal offence, posting johns' names is not a privacy issue, said Duncan. This step will not be considered until after an appeal of the recent Ontario court ruling, when a provincial judge cast the country's prostitution laws into uncertainty.

Though neighbourhood residents often take down licence plates of suspicious-looking cars and call them into the police, Duncan said this is not the most effective way to track down johns. "We'll be the eyes and ears of the community in the next few weeks," he said, cautioning residents to let the police do their job.

London Police Services have currently identified 240 active sex trade workers ranging between the ages of 18 to 60. Many are primarily involved with street-level prostitution, and many are suffering from significant addictions, specifically to crack cocaine and opiates. According to Duncan, "Many will state that they are not engaged in prostitution by choice but rather desperation and addiction."

Duncan issued this warning to johns across the city: "You need to be mindful of the effect this would have on your lives should this be revealed to your spouses, partners, families, friends, associates and coworkers. The message should be abundantly clear: Do not participate in this behaviour."