Police have saved us, but from what?

JIM COSTELLOE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Whew!

The Gwinnett County police have done it again. Saved us all from the unseemly underbelly of the criminal underworld. First, they closed up shop in what we now are told was a newly developed Sugarloaf red-light district by arresting "Luscious" Lisa Ann Taylor ( I thought of that one myself) and "Naughty" Nicole Probert. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they whiled away countless hours following innumerable leads and have so far charged two men they say actually paid for sex with one of these women. Two men! Can you believe that?

One of the men allegedly paid $600 to have sex with the "Naughty" one. I have to wonder why he supposedly received such a monster discount from the $10,000 police say the accused women charge some men. Maybe he had a coupon. Or one of those frequent buyer punch cards. The one where you buy 10 at the regular price, then get one free, or in this case, for $600. I have one for TCBY. The hole they punch looks like a little ice cream cone. I wonder what shape a prostitute would use to punch a card? Hmmm

Anyway, from the time these alleged "Mansion Madams" were arrested, Gwinnett County authorities made no secret that they would be going after the really big prizes in this criminal enterprise, the true danger elements, those who give us nightmares — the men who paid for sex.

At first, when I heard this news, I was truly upset. Our own county was going to waste countless tax dollars tracking down the men who paid for sex, which as it turns out, is only a misdemeanor. I could understand following the supposed drug trail, but sex?

I by no means mean to infer that I find men who solicit sex from women to be of any better character then the women who sell sex. I just couldn't imagine that there is a whole lot of good that comes from actively seeking out these people, no matter which side of the equation.

I saw the result of the police actively pursuing customers as being one in which families were broken up because Daddy paid a few bucks for a quickie on his way home from work. And all for what? A small fine or a couple of nights in jail. I could not see how this could be in the best interest of our community. It seemed like the ultimate waste of time and money. Boy, did I have it wrong.

I learned a valuable lesson. Always trust your police force. Unless of course you hail from Great Britain and make the inexcusable mistake of jaywalking across a downtown Atlanta street (we all know that no one would dare do such a thing). Outside of that, you should always trust them. But I digress.

The lesson learned is that, although it is rarely publicized, the police see things we could never understand. In this case, they saw the two women they arrested on prostitution charges and thought to themselves, "Someone is actually paying $10,000 for this?"

I thought the same thing myself (and it did give me nightmares), but I never recognized the underlying danger.

See, our beloved police force knew that whoever these men were, they must be extremely unstable and a danger to the citizens of Gwinnett County, maybe even all of Georgia. They saw that any man who engaged Ms. Probert or Ms. Taylor, especially if they were indeed paying as much as $10,000, must be on the ledge, walking a fine line between insanity and reality, and that one misstep could set them off.

Just think about that. You can feel it, can't you? Your life passing before your eyes? Sometimes we dodge bullets we never even knew flew by.

Now that I know the police have this under control, I feel like I can again take my children out into the front yard to play or take a walk without looking over my shoulder. I no longer feel the need to dive for cover behind a bush or tree when a car drives by. Nope. Life in Gwinnett County is safe again, and all is right with the world.

Jim Costelloe is a husband and father of two who lives in Suwanee and works in the commercial mortgage industry.

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