At least 10 men went to the city of Elkhart this past weekend looking for sex - more specifically, sex they allegedly were willing to pay for.
Then, they got their pictures all over the news.
The 10 men, each accused of patronizing a prostitute, a Class A misdemeanor, were arrested allegedly attempting to solicit an undercover female officer posing as a prostitute on Friday and Saturday.
By Monday morning - thanks to an e-mail from the Elkhart Police Department - all 10 of the men's photographs and their names were prominently displayed on the websites of Michiana's four television stations and on the website for the Elkhart newspaper.
The men's faces and names did not appear in The Tribune, which has a policy that limits the publishing of names of the arrested until after they have been charged.
And according to the Elkhart County prosecutor's office, the men might never be charged.
In a news release issued Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said it is delaying a formal decision on charges for the 10 men until Elkhart police can provide the complete report on the operation, facts and circumstances of the arrests.
According the prosecutor, a preliminary review of the materials so far received indicates case reports are incomplete and insufficient for a formal charging determination.
But even if the men are not charged, their names and faces already have been viewed by thousands because publicizing the arrests of men caught trying to patronize prostitutes has become a popular police tactic in recent years.
Police departments and advocacy groups in Nebraska, Arizona and Florida have posted mug shots of offenders on billboards and have even started websites in an effort to curtail prostitution.
Lt. Laura Koch, spokeswoman for the Elkhart Police Department, said she could not provide some details of the arrests - such as where they occurred, or how the men solicited the officer - because the case was under investigation.
As for sending all 10 mug shots to the media?
"We've always done it, any time there's an arrest," said Koch, although she admitted that not every misdemeanor arrest resulted in a news release.
"If there's an arrest from a search warrant that we serve, or if we arrest someone after a robbery, then we send their picture out," Koch said.
But the question remains: Does creating a sting operation and publicizing the arrests of customers of prostitution actually reduce the crime?
"These stings always result in many arrests and good publicity, but researchers have concluded that they have no overall effect on clients," reads an issue paper from the Center for Problem-Oriented Reporting, a nonprofit group whose goal is to advance the concepts and practices of problem-oriented policing.
The problem, the organization's paper reasons, is that prostitution is a highly mobile activity, meaning sting operations and publicity can cause momentary stops in activity, but that it typically starts up somewhere else.
In Elkhart alone, according to stories in The Tribune's archive, police have conducted at least five stings in the past six years, including one in 2008 and three in 2007.
In 2007, the three stings resulted in the arrests of 14 men and six women. The next year, a similar sting operation netted 12 more people.
Koch defended the practice of sting operations, saying they have been used effectively in the past to deter crime and to alleviate complaints the police were receiving.
"It was done in reference to complaints we had received," Koch said, "and that we saw as a problem."
Staff writer Dave Stephens: [email protected] 574-235-6209
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