Proceedings of the 3rd Annual GRASP Symposium, Wichita State University, 2007 
 63
 The Social Control of the Commercial Sex Industry: 
Qualitative Reflections on the Police 
  
David A. Guhr*, Michael L. Birzer Ph.D. 
 
School of Community Affairs, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences  
 
Abstract. The social control of prostitution has resulted in enormous expenditures of police time and resources in many communities across the 
United States.  Police strategies such as aggressive hot spot patrols and sting operations resulting in multiple arrests of prostitutes are commonly 
used by social control agencies.  It is questionable whether strategies such as these are effective in resolving prostitution both in the long and 
short term.  Furthermore, there is a dearth of literature that assesses the perceptions of police officers themselves toward the social control of 
prostitution.  The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the perceptions of police officers toward prostitution using interviews as the 
data collection strategy. Results indicate that many officers believe that traditional enforcement strategies are ineffective in dealing with 
prostitution. Officers also reported that while legalization of prostitution does not fit within the moral framework of the community, it would 
lower the frequency of harm, and that sexually transmitted diseases and associated instances of drug use and interpersonal violence, are the 
principle social pathologies for which they are concerned. 
 
1. Introduction 
 
    This specific study was an outgrowth of a larger study on commercial sex work here in Wichita, Kansas. Wichita 
and the surrounding community have experienced issues with commercial sex work throughout their long history. 
However, street prostitution in the North and South Broadway areas constitutes the only configuration with which 
the public is largely aware. The researches conducting this study were not fully aware of the actual diversity in 
venue that existed within the community, although we were aware that approximately eight escort services operated 
in the area. Within the context of the larger study we were interested in understanding to what extent police 
interventions, or the threat of such, structured these activities. Describing the nature and frequency of police 
officers’ interacts with commercial sex workers and their controllers is one way of triangulating this information. 
      
2. The Study 
 
    We initially framed this part of our investigation as a case study. Creswell (1998) defines a case study as the 
exploration of a bounded system, case or multiple cases over some period of time through detailed, in depth data 
collection. This study was bounded within the Sedgwick County law enforcement community, and included the 
sampling of county, city and federal law enforcement officers as its primary data source. Other data sources used 
included document analysis of escort service licensing data, reviews of web-based discussions among patrons of 
prostitutes and non-participant observation of several locals. Additionally we identify this as an instrumental case 
study due to (a) our need to develop contacts and informants, familiar with commercial sex work within the 
community, and (b) the general exploratory nature of this study. 
     We utilized a snowball sampling procedure, and through subsequent referrals we were able to interview eleven 
law enforcement officers (n = 11). Snowball sampling is a technique where the researcher obtains knowledge of 
potential participants from people who know people who meet research interests. While a larger, randomized sample 
would have allowed us to produce some generalizations about police officers in the area, such a procedure was not 
possible due to a lack of funding and administrative access to these police agencies. As pointed out previously, this 
case study is exploratory in nature, which means that we did not fully understand the boundaries and parameters of 
the system prior to entry. In many ways this study represents a first attempt at generating this type of information 
about police officer perspectives. 
     Initially we asked officers three questions, and shortly after beginning the interviews, we added two questions 
about how they experienced interactions with commercial sex work populations. These five questions are as follows: 
Proceedings of the 3rd Annual GRASP Symposium, Wichita State University, 2007 
 64
 1. What are your perceptions in regards to expending time and resources toward the enforcement of 
prostitution laws? 
2. What are your perceptions regarding whether or not prostitution should be decriminalized and regulated? 
3. What are your perceptions regarding whether or not prostitution results in social harms? 
4. Has your area of responsibility encountered any problems with prostitution? 
5. How are these problems being handled? 
 
     Responses were analyzed through a technique developed for grounded theory by Corbin and Strauss (1990). 
Creswell (1998) describes this as a process which consists of building categories for the responses (open coding), 
demonstrating connection between categories (axial coding) and finally building several theoretical positions from 
those connections (selective coding). While exploration rather than theoretical proposition was the specific goal of 
this study, we believe that this type of holistic analysis allowed us to effective describe the response themes 
presented by participants. 
     Our later experiential question resulted in an expansion of our understanding of commercial sex venues within 
the Wichita area. In addition to street prostitution and escort service work, which we were already aware, we added 
brothel services and strip club services. Brothel services we had not even considered as a category within Wichita, 
and strip clubs services we had originally framed as being outside the focus of our research project. Yet officers 
repeatedly demonstrated that they viewed these four venues as being outlets for prostitution. Police interactions with 
these four venues include traditional ordinance enforcement by patrol officers, prostitute stings, john/customer 
stings, development of confidential informants, and rehabilitative projects and opportunities. 
     Concerning perceptions of the time and resources expended on dealing with prostitution, the general themes 
included (a) insufficient resources to effectively control prostitution within their area through ordinance enforcement 
and sting operations, (b) current operations only result in temporary geographic displacement, and (c) that they are 
frustrated with the understanding that criminal prosecution of prostitution is a revolving door. 
     With respect to the social harms perceived to be associated with commercial sex work, general themes included 
(a) the vectoring of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), (b) concomitant usage of illicit drugs and interpersonal 
violence, (c) enablement and accommodation of other criminal endeavors, and (d) disruption of familial 
relationships. 
     In terms of decriminalization or legalization, themes included the belief that (a) legalization or decriminalization 
does not fit the moral framework of the community, (b) frequency of harms present in illicit sex work would be 
reduced with presence of some legal venue for the activity, (c) doubt concerning the elimination of illicit sex work 
due to the economic stratification of the four venues previously listed, and (d) breaking the connection between sex 
work and illicit drug markets would not be accomplish with such a change in disposition. 
 
3. Conclusions 
 
      Qualitative research methodology allows a mode of exploration which is extremely valuable in understanding 
our social world. This study has allowed the researchers to better understand the categories of sex work and 
interactions occurring within the community, which allows for the development of more robust studies for 
evaluating the relationships between individual action and the structuring of the social world.  
       Further research is sorely needed in order to more effectively understanding the nature of economic 
stratification within the local commercial sex work industry.  Such information will allow policy makers and 
community members to better inform any changes they might employed. This research demonstrates that heightened 
levels of community interaction are needed in order to adequately address the social harms associated with these 
activities in an era of underinvestment in community law enforcement. Finally, since elimination of sex work is 
impossible, efforts need to be made to help policy makers more readily view their work as “regulation” rather than 
“elimination” as the later appears to be an unrealistic goal. 
 
4. Acknowledgements 
 
We would like to thank Jon McConnell, Matt Knowles and Dr. Paul F. Cromwell for their assistance throughout this 
project, as well as the many law enforcement officers who helped us collect information and identify participants. 
 
[1] Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.  
[2] Corbin, J. & Strauss, A. (1990). Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology, 13(1), 3-21