A key state lawmaker said Friday he plans to end a police exemption under Hawaii’s prostitution laws that allows officers, in the course of their duties, to have sex with prostitutes.
Law enforcement experts and women’s advocates have called that exemption unnecessary and an invitation to abuse.
This year, state legislators have moved to revamp Hawaii’s decades-old law against prostitution to toughen penalties against pimps and those who use prostitutes. They also proposed scrapping the exemption from prostitution laws for officers on duty.
But Honolulu police argued they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act. Otherwise, they contended, prostitutes would insist on sex to identify undercover officers.
House lawmakers responded by amending House Bill 1926 to restore the protection. The revised proposal passed the House and was sent to the Senate.
However, on Friday, Senate lawmakers said they planned to change the bill again — this time to end the police exemption.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from residents, advocates and lawyers who argued against the exemption. No police testified Friday.
Sen. Clayton Hee, the committee’s chairman, said he would amend the bill to end the exemption.
"I will tell you that without question I can’t imagine police officers being exempt from the law," Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua) said. "To condone police officers’ sexual penetration in making arrests is simply nonsensical to me. And I would note that HPD’s absence is deafening.
"You can expect that exemption will be out of the recommendations of the chair."
The promise from lawmakers to toss the exemption came as a relief to people who testified at the hearing.
Defense attorney Myles Breiner testified that his clients who are prostitutes often complain to him that police have sex with them before making an arrest.
"My concern is public respect for the law," Breiner told lawmakers. "How do we expect people to follow the law when the police engage in criminal conduct?"
After an Associated Press article about the exemption Thursday received national attention, the Honolulu Police Department issued a statement Friday saying it is not looking for legislative permission for officers to have sex with prostitutes.
They contend that HB 1926’s original provision scrapping the exemption for law enforcement officers was "poorly worded."
"If we were to codify these rules, we would be publicly revealing specific undercover officer guidelines and Hawaii’s prostitutes, ‘pimps’ and johns would be able to use the information to avoid prosecution and continue their illegal activity," HPD’s statement said.
Advocates, however, warned that the exemption is an invitation for misconduct.
Melissa Farley, executive director of the San Francisco-based group Prostitution Research and Education, said prostitutes commonly complain of being coerced into giving sexual favors to police to keep from getting arrested.
HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu told the AP that Honolulu police vice officers who investigate prostitution haven’t been accused of sexual wrongdoing in recent memory.
In earlier 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 are privy to that information, they’re going to know exactly how far the undercover officer can and cannot go," HPD Maj. Jerry Inouye testified.
Still, the Hawaii exemption 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 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."
