Prostitution Crackdown In Jackson

A special task force arrested eleven people, and the majority were busted for prostitution.  The Hinds County Sheriff’s Department conducted the sting in response to complaints from residents about crime in their neighborhood.

Members of the Street Crimes Task Force and the Narcotics Unit made the arrests on Monday night along West Capitol Street.  They arrested seven women for prostitution and four others for outstanding warrants and other crimes.

Tammye Austin, Quentanna Brooner, Janile Davis, Robin Cavett, Sherrelle Harris, Theresa Minor and Tameka Rhodes were arrested for prostitution.  Deputies say all of the women are from Jackson.

Maj. Nick Clark commands the Street Crimes Task Force.  He says the prostitutes sell their bodies to feed their drug addiction.

“Unfortunately, it’s the driving force behind all out criminal activity in Jackson,“ he said.

Clark says prostitution is dangerous for the women and the men who solicit them.

“They’ve got disease they don’t even have names for,“ he said.  “Anybody who partakes in street prostitution service is of risk of taking that home.“

But it’s not just Jackson women selling their bodies for sex.  Clark says prostitutes from across the South are advertising their services on websites like craigslist.com.  He says he wants to stamp out prostitution throughout the city.

Hinds County investigators also run operations targeting the men who solicit prostitutes.  Last May, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department and Jackson’s Police Department teamed up for Operation Cupid.  Female deputies traded in their uniforms for street clothes and walked along Highway 80.  Police say many of the “customers” came in from outside Hinds County.  The operation ran throughout the summer.