Hawaii police back sex exemption

HONOLULU - Honolulu police officers are urging lawmakers to keep an exemption in state law that lets undercover officers have sex with prostitutes during investigations, but they won’t say how often - or even if - they use the provision.

The notion has shocked advocates and law enforcement experts on the sex trade.

“I don’t know of any state or federal law that allows any law enforcement officer undercover to … do what this law is allowing,” said Roger Young, a retired FBI agent who worked in sex crimes out of Las Vegas for more than 20 years and has trained vice squads around the country. “Once we agree on the price and the sex act, that’s all that you need. That breaks the law.”

Honolulu police said they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act.Otherwise, they argue, prostitutes will insist on sex to identify undercover officers. This year, state legislators moved to revamp Hawaii’s decades-old law against prostitution. They toughened penalties against pimps and those who use prostitutes. They also proposed scrapping the sex exemption for officers on duty.

But the legislation wasamended to restore that protection after police objected. The revised proposal passed the House and is now before the Senate.

On Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from citizens, advocates and lawyers who argued against the exemption. No police testified, and committee Chairman Clayton Hee said he would amend the bill to end the exemption. Selling sex would remain a petty misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The Honolulu police vice officers who investigate prostitution haven’t been accused of sexual wrongdoing in recent memory, spokesman Michelle Yu said in an email.

In recent testimony, Honolulu police assured lawmakers that departmental policies are in place to prevent officers from taking advantage of the sex exemption. But they wouldn’t detail those policies.

“If prostitution suspects, pimps and other people areprivy to that information, they’re going to know exactly how far the undercover officer can and cannot go,” Maj. Jerry Inouye testified.

Melissa Farley, executive director of the San Francisco-based group Prostitution Research and Education, said prostitutes commonly complain about being coerced into giving sexual favors to police to keep from getting arrested.

Having sex with a prostitute during an undercover operation “doesn’t help your case, and at worst you further traumatize someone,” said Derek Marsh, who trains California police on human trafficking.

Charlie Fuller, executive director of the International Association of Undercover Officers, laughed when he heard about the Hawaii law. “A good undercover is going to get probable cause before they have to cross that line,” he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Nicholas Riccardi of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 03/22/2014

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