For more than a month now, there has been no regulation that would allow individuals to be administratively punished for illegal prostitution. The consequences of this political disagreement are felt by the residents and entrepreneurs of the Lienes Street area, who have been fighting prostitution on the streets for years, because now the representatives of the oldest profession do not have to worry about “clinging to the law”. Care is in demand, according to records of CCTV cameras installed by locals.
Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
–
The portal “Delfi” has previously reported on the far end residents of Bruņinieku Street in Riga, who, after countless attempts to attention of law enforcement officers to what is happening in the vicinity of Avotu have publicly shared what is happening during the day on one of the streets of the historic center, next to the State Police and Ministry of the Interior authorities.
(Non) security
Following the example of Bruņinieku Street activists, residents and entrepreneurs close to Lienes Street have also started to share their pain in public. The portal “Delfi” was contacted by the residents of the neighborhood, whose noses are the subject of illegal prostitution during the day. Citizens wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons. Not for nothing – threats from prostitutes have already been received several times. Promised to puncture both tires and burn the house.
Most likely, people from Riga should be sought by fire, who have not heard anything about illegal care around Lienes Street. Its history can be measured in decades, and the improvement works of the neighborhood, such as the renovation of Mūrnieku Street and Ziedondarza, have not “scared” illegal prostitution either. Intentionally or unknowingly, but Lienes Street and the streets around it have been created as a place in Riga where illegal service providers meet customers. Observations from locals show that sexual services on the street are mostly offered by three, up to six prostitutes.
That is not all, the residents of the neighborhood remind, the illegal care still brings with it other troubles – drugs.
Not only local people but also entrepreneurs are at peace with it. They have already addressed officials in the Riga Municipal Police (RPP), the State Police, the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) and the Riga City Council several times. Both official letters were sent and the issue was discussed in person.
Residents have also installed video surveillance cameras in the center of the care. They capture both sexual service providers and customers. As the locals know, the range of customers, judging by the car, is very wide. A customer even arrived by car on the straight from the cabin – on a test drive, remembers one of the residents of the neighborhood. Often customers arrive by work car, their attentive residents record them on video cameras and are not ashamed to inform employers about the progress of their work.
(Un) criminal record
The procedure for restricting prostitution is determined by the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. They stipulate, for example, that sexual services can only be provided in the living space. In addition, it is prohibited to provide sexual services for a fee, as well as to receive these services in a living space if it is located closer than 100 meters from an educational institution or church, if a minor is present and if other persons living in the room or house where he or she objects. is located.
If until July the residents of the neighborhood involved the police in the fight against illegal prostitution by calling it regularly, now these opportunities are also limited. Namely, due to the disagreement of politicians, as of July 1, there is no longer a regulation that would allow to administratively punish persons for illegal prostitution.
It should be reminded that the new Law on Administrative Liability entered into force on 1 July. It stipulates that administrative violations, penalties applicable to them and the competence of officials in the process of administrative violations in an institution shall be determined in the laws regulating the relevant sector or in the regulations binding on local governments. With regard to prostitution, no such law has been introduced.
The Ministry of the Interior has been preparing for several years Prostitution a draft law on restraint, which would, among other things, provide for sanctions for the illegal provision of sexual services. Due to the disagreement of politicians, the draft law was not submitted to the Saeima for consideration.
Currently, discussions on the draft law are not continuing – the deputies of the Saeima have gone on summer holidays, the Minister of the Interior Sandis Ģirģens (KPV LV) is still on vacation. However, according to Beata Jonite, the Minister’s press secretary, with Ģirģens’ return to the Public Security Advisory Council of the Ministry of the Interior, discussions on improving the draft law will continue.
Earlier, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) had instructed coalition partners to submit their proposals for a draft law restricting prostitution. The only proposal had come from the “Development / For!” Party, which called for the introduction of a provision that would only penalize the buyer and not the sex worker in the field of prostitution.
Jonite reminds that the Minister of the Interior had initiated a temporary regulation and submitted a proposal to impose penalties for administrative violations related to the restriction of prostitution in the Administrative Penalties Law, but the support of the Saeima was not obtained.
Consequently, it is not known when and whether the police will be able to punish the illegal provision of sexual services.
The fact that the illegal service providers have realized that they will not be punished is confirmed to the portal “Delfi” by one of the representatives of the nearby store. “The situation here is not too flattering,” the shopkeeper said diplomatically.
He says that the police were not always involved in the past either, but the mention of law enforcement officers from service providers was respected. But now their attitude is “I’m just walking here, what are you going to do to me!”. Assessing the situation in Lienes Street and its surroundings in general, the store representative knows that it has been absolutely unchanged during the last five years.
A representative of the local confectionery “Lille” is skeptical about the effectiveness of calling the police until July 1. The police have seen sex workers detained several times, but they are back on the street in a few hours. “I understand that they can’t tie something in the name of the law, but there has to be some solution. However, the children walk here, what they see is madness,” says the confectioner’s.
One of the residents of the neighborhood also knows how to tell that the clients of sexual service providers do not discriminate. She herself witnessed a prostitute offer her services to a 14-year-old boy: “He was so scared!” She also points out that there is a sporting goods store in the area, which is popular with children.
–
(A mess
According to Toms Sadovskis, a representative of the Riga Municipal Police (RPP), since July 1, the police no longer have the tools to control the possible violation – illegal prostitution. Consequently, it may happen that at a time when crews are busy with a large number of calls, such a call from a resident is given a lower priority.
However, if residents report violations of the rules restricting prostitution, the police will also go to the scene. However, if all the crews are busy at that moment, then the patrol will be assigned later, explains the RPP representative.
“In addition, the information provided by the population helps the police to better understand the actual situation in the city and plan future work,” adds Sadowski.
Part of the population admits that the rupee would be stopped if the punishment were imposed not only on the providers of sexual services, but also on the recipients. The RPP indicates that local law enforcement officers are ready to control any of the versions of the regulation that will be adopted by the Saeima. “The key is to have a mechanism to control the rules,” says Sadowski.
Citizens are also eagerly awaiting the politician’s completion of the new Prostitution Restriction Law, which will enter into force. Also, the residents of the neighborhood do not throw plinth in the bushes and are ready to address law enforcement officials and officials with a new official letter, but this time – public.
–
