Posted on 09/20/2009 6:23:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The program operated by the San Francisco district attorney's office targeting customers of prostitutes has ill-defined goals and no way to determine its effectiveness, according to a new audit by the city's budget analyst.
Despite being touted as a national model that comes at no cost to taxpayers, the audit said the program didn't cover its expenses in each of the last five years, leading to a $270,000 shortfall.
The program has first-time offenders arrested for soliciting a prostitute pay as much as $1,000 for a one-day class taught by sex-trafficking experts, former prostitutes and others in exchange for having the misdemeanor charge dropped. The program was $49,000 in the red last year, the audit said.
District Attorney Kamala Harris' office disputes that the program is ineffective and says the 14-year-old First Offender Prostitution Program, begun eight years before she was elected district attorney, paid for itself during its first nine years and will do so again.
"There have been a few years in which the revenue generated has not exceeded expenditures," said Erica Derryck, a spokeswoman for Harris. "We're actively implementing cost controls to prevent this from being an ongoing pattern."
Those steps include using on-duty police officers rather than paying overtime for the eight undercover prostitution stings a month that the program covers, authorities said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Have they encountered a fall-off in the number of clients?
they are wasting cash
No, I think it is staying up and growing.
parsy, who gives them an “E” for effort
The San Francisco DA’s getting money for prostitutes?
Who’d a thunk it?
When a customer gets in his cab and wonders where he can find some services he says...
“Anywhere will do. The entire city is a whore house centered around City Hall.”
The answer obviously lies with mandatory prostitute solicitation in SF.
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