The red four-door sedan pulled slowly into a tiny strip-mall parking lot on Ponce de Leon and idled as a man in a plaid shirt approached the window.
“I’m trying to get into a little somethin … you look like someone I usually deal with,” the man in the plaid shirt said to the male driver.
He opened the door on the passenger side and got in, and the red car pulled onto Ponce. The driver barely went a block before the man in the plaid shirt offered sex for money -- $20. That was all he needed to say to have two Atlanta police patrol cars to rush up and a team of officers surround the car and arrest him.
“You got me man, you got me,” he repeated three times to the driver as the blue lights flashed behind him and officers swarmed the car.
The arrest, made late on a Thursday night was part of “Operation Summer Heat.”
For the next three days, officers with the APD’s vice unit; the Atlanta Proactive Enforcement & Interdiction (APEX) squad; and cops who are assigned to the Midtown area arrested prostitutes and johns walking the streets.
The operation, which started May 5, netted a total of 69 arrests, including 50 suspected male prostitutes, 11 female suspected prostitutes and eight suspected johns, according to information the APD released Monday afternoon. Each of those people arrested may face additional charges.
Police also made five arrests for selling marijuana and five for selling cocaine. Officers impounded seven cars and seized a total of $1,000 in cash.
Most of the arrests were made in and around Peachtree and Cypress streets and Ponce de Leon, the APD said. The operation is the first of others that will be done throughout the city.
“We’ve received many complaints about hustling and prostitution in these corridors,” Chief George Turner said. “We hope these arrests send a signal to the community that the APD is listening, and to lawbreakers that we are not going to tolerate this conduct.”
The idea was to send a message to the prostitutes that the police are out there. The residual impact may be greater.
“The element we see, they also break into cars, homes and have an extensive criminal history,” he said.
“A lot of people think it’s a victimless crime,” Lt. Scott Kreher said. “But they commit other crimes.”
Kreher said he started organizing the 40-officer team about a month ago to coincide with warm weather – that’s when prostitution picks up and the APD’s phones start ringing with complaints from residents and businesses.
Kreher emphasized how dangerous undercover work is for police officers. But prostitutes and johns are likely going to run – or at least move away from an area – if they see a marked police car driving down the street.
“It’s very difficult for a uniform officer to control this type of crime because they are in a patrol car,” said Kreher, the commander of the vice unit.
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