Turn off the red light

“Operation Hook-Up” began in the summer of 2006 when Fifeville neighbors began calling the Charlottesville Police Department to complain about alleged acts of prostitution in Tonsler Park on Cherry Avenue. Word worked its way to Sergeant Marc Brake and, after problems were verified through surveillance and foot patrol efforts, a few undercover officers, including Joseph Brown, were sent to make arrests for what both Brake and Brown call “brazen” acts of prostitution.


"Calling all hookers: Price check on intercourse!" Officer Joe Brown of the Charlottesville Police Department gives valuable health lessons and tough love to sex merchants in the area. 

No matter how brazen, there are a few integral steps to making a prostitution arrest. An officer and a hooker, male or female (though only women were arrested in the sweep November 27-29), must agree upon particulars—“a specific sex act for a specific monetary gain,” according to Officer Brown.

And here is where price lends insight to the world of sex-for-hire: In Officer Brown’s experience, prices are typically subject to the cravings of addicts who turn to sex to support their drug habits.

“You gotta keep in mind that these are street-level crack addicts and dealers,” says Brown. Sergeant Brake agrees. “Girls that agree to these acts to support habits,” he says, “will try to get as much as they can; [there’s] no magic number.”

Which means that the market fluctuates. “Some people said ‘anything’ for $50. Some said ‘I’ll do anything you want’ for $30,” Brown says. “Operation Hook-Up” nabbed seven women, ages 31 to 55; the 55-year-old was arrested twice.

Brown and the Charlottesville Police Department kept it basic (according to our standards) and yielded price ranges for oral sex and sexual intercourse with little problem. “We’d basically say ‘How much for a blowjob?’ Some people would say $5 or $10. Some would say ‘I won’t do oral sex, but I’ll do intercourse.,’” says Brown.

The misdemeanor charge for prostitution carries a one-year sentence, but usually prostitutes are punished with probation. Despite November’s success, Sergeant Brake says that the city PD has considered running another sweep, though he won’t say when. Brown says that he has seen the occasional letter to newspapers that asks “why are police picking on these people?” but insists that the Charlottesville PD responds to citizen concerns.

“We look at calls, concerns, history, then try to proactively educate the community,” says Brown. “One of the things we did during these arrests is, on the spot, provide these people with literature on STDs, to warn of things that could potentially end [their] lives.”