'Operation Big Bad John' Used 75 Cops, Six Federal Agencies to Catch 13 Sex Buyers

Naturally, they're portraying it as a success.

Howard Lipin/ZUMApress/Newscom

Every day I could bring you another example of how "human trafficking operation" and "sex trafficking sting" are simply police code for "prostitution bust." The story never changes: Police arrest sex workers or their clients, slap a catchy title on their efforts, call it a win against "modern slavery," and blast it out to local reporters, who faithfully frame the whole thing exactly how cops want. To the casual reader, it must seem like law enforcement is doing a seriously good job at stopping sexual exploitation. But all they're really doing is wasting tons of time and taxpayers' money to stop consenting adults from having sex.

Here's a stellar new example out of San Diego. "13 Arrested in Human Trafficking Operation," the local NBC headline declares. What the headline fails to make at all clear is that not a single one of the arrests were on human trafficking charges, nor was a single trafficking victim recovered. Police simply posed as adult women selling sex and then arrested men who wanted to pay them.

Just how many police officers did it take to take down these 13 nonviolent offenders? According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, more than 75 law enforcement agents participated. The agencies involved included the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Immigration Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service. (There's no word on how many immigrants may have been rounded up in the course of the sting.)

The initiative, dubbed "Operation Big Bad John," also netted some arrests for drug possession. Police seized "more than 17 grams" of crystal meth and a few Ecstasy pills in this "human trafficking operation" as well.

"Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery" and "the biggest human rights violation of our time," the sheriff's department stated in a press release about Operation Big Bad John—a standard non sequitur for such faux-social-justice stings. Because really, who wants to quibble over particulars when modern slavery is involved? Cops know they can count on lazy reporters and a public that's been spoonfed human-trafficking hysteria for years to simply nod along with whatever new (or age-old) bullshit they're up to under an "anti-slavery" guise.

Comments

[$park? leftist poser]

Operation Big Bad John

I heard he went down a mine shaft and rescued twenty men.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

At least now we know why he hasn't been commenting.

[timbo]

There should be no budget in catching a law breaker. So says the progtard and the neocon.

I remember an article once about the value of life. It used the life insurance policies issued to astronauts to sum up the overzealous profligacy of bureaucrats when dealing with heartstrings and pet projects of politicians. Very good read on how fucking stupid government workers are.

drug/sex/internet/social justice Cops have never questioned the futility of their wasteful jobs.

[BearOdinson]

So the news organization just copied a few lines from the Sheriff's office press release. Wow. That is hard-hitting reporting right there.

By the way, none of the links actually point to any info about the charges the john's are actually facing. Does anyone know where I can get that info? (I am still at work and really didn't feel like doing that kind of Google search).

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

The 13 sex buyers will be booked into the San Diego County Detention Facility.

So, just buying sex?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

They were probably married and tired of begging for sex.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Cops know they can count on lazy reporters and a public that's been spoonfed human-trafficking hysteria for years to simply nod along with whatever new (or age-old) bullshit they're up to under an "anti-slavery" guise.

The new Joaquin Phoenix movie that has received rave reviews so far (and considering the director, is probably quite good) deals with Phoenix saving a young girl from a sex trafficking ring.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

This shit is beginning to piss me off. Seriously. And it's affecting how people think and approach real world situations.

Local dude's girlfriend decided to go backbacking across Mexico, alone. When she was missing he was convinced she was "sex trafficked"-- you know, thrown into a burlap sack and now she's sitting in a brothel in Mexico, servicing clients for low pay.

No, they pulled her out of a fucking shallow grave.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Jesus. Not sure what your point is, though.

[Bubba Jones]

If she had been less resistant to the sex trafficking she would still be alive?

I dunno. I got nothing.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

My point was simply that this sex-trafficking bullshit notion is going to send idiots in the wrong direction.

I don't think it made a difference in the case I detailed above-- that was more to illustrate where otherwise intelligent people's minds can go when presented with a problem.

But if you're in law enforcement, and the solution to every problem is "A ha! Sex trafficking, let's post officers at all the local brothels" it could, you know, divert some resources away from where the likely problem is.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Let me draw an analogy:

There's an old saying that started in the medical world, but works in almost any technical or engineering field:

If you hear hoofbeats, first think of a horse, not a zebra.

That adage is supposed to help people not waste precious time and resources by immediately grasping for the exotic solution when the real answer is probably quite simple and straightforward.

[some guy]

So we should encourage medical professionals to watch more Scrubs and less House?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Jesus -- it's already over and faux human trafficking has won. They don't even need to make a single major bust, I mean have they? After years of hard hitting?

But it's already over, all the mediums, all the talking heads are in agreement, it is the only narrative, that is why it is over. Politicians, news organizations, work seminars, entertainment -- Christ every superhero show on Netflix has had an their episode where they open up a shipping container at a New York pier and find two dozen girls trapped inside -- every influential voice is all singing "Modern Slavery" in unison.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

d. Police simply posed as adult women

That's probably a hard transition for the cops.

[ImanAzol]

Demand Tits or GTFO. The cop won't show her tits.

[BearOdinson]

I still don't understand how this isn't entrapment? How would the buyers know about the "prostitutes" if the "prostitutes" weren't advertising their services?

Also, I think we should do a libertarian PSA for potential "buyers".

Are you interesting in having sexual activities for money? Always follow these simple rules:
Always ask the "seller" if she is a cop.
Always definitively state you are not a cop.
Once that is established, clearly delineate what is being offered and for what compensation. If she is a cop, and says she is not, then she should not be able to clearly state she is selling sex for money (entrapment).
Once you have indicated that you are not a cop and that you would like to purchase sex for money, than she should be ok because if you are a cop, then you are entrapping her.
ALWAYS WRAP IT!!!

[Bubba Jones]

Cops never lie.

[Robert]

I still don't understand any of this. The links explain nothing. I don't even know where ENB got her info that police posed as adult women selling sex.

[ImanAzol]

They can lie undercover. Why do you believe idiotic myths to the contrary?

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

More like Operation Barney Miller.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Elizabeth you are fucking killing me today... I just read the first article and am still seeing red.

Walks into the street shouting, "RUIN! WOE! DESPAIR!"

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

It's like someone is jackhammering on my nuts.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Go on.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

I once used a jackhammer for about 4 hours straight. My hands vibrated for a day. How do people do this for a job?

[MarkLastname]

I bet you gave great handjobs during this se 4 hours though, right?

[Gene]

We just do it, mine is more of a mid-sized Bosch Hammer, mainly used to remove bricks rather than breaking up concrete. The vibration suppression on these things is much improved in the last decade or so I find. But there are days that I use it for six or more hours in a workday, not too bad.

[creech]

It seems every darn social misfit under the sun is accommodated by society unless it involves money for sex.
So some obese or disabled gay or some obese or socially inept straight is criminalized for wanting to fulfill his or her human need for sexual companionship because no one will freely offer it. Where's the compassion??

[Cynical Asshole]

Operation Big Bad John' Used 75 Cops, Six Federal Agencies to Catch 13 Sex Buyers

Those had to be the 13 most expensive BJs (or whatever) in human history.

[LarryA]

All 13 of them aren't even close to what the Lewinski ones cost taxpayers.

[Robert]

How do any of these federal agencies have jurisdiction over a local prostitution-offer sting? Were any of the customers foreigners or suspected terrorists? IRS, huh? Uh, evading the federal tax on...prostitution?

[ssgcmw]

IRS doesn't care where the income is from, but they had damn well better get their cut!

[Robert]

But these were customers, looking to pay; wouldn't be income to them.

[Liberty Lover]

The best way to end human sex trafficking would be to legalize Prostitution.

[Sevens]

"Police simply posed as adult women selling sex (...)."

That's just wrong. It's supposed to be the other way around.