[markomalley]

Two points:

• This is the classic self-fulfilling prophecy: widely advertise a sting and then act surprised when the targets of the sting opt to not be stung.
• Also, this is one of those situations where the cops can claim victory no matter what happens: had they busted hundreds of people, they'd have claimed victory by identifying multiple scumbags...but since they busted nobody, they claim victory because they scared the scumbags off.

Classic no-lose situation.

[willywill]

yes, almost as logical and brilliant as the gun buy back programs.

[COBOL2Java]

P.G. County’s just across the border from Washington DC. I wonder how many Johns were Congresscritters.

[Sirius Lee]

They used to have prostitute parades. They would round them up around K Street and the cops would march them across the 14th Street Bridge to VA and threaten to arrest them if they came back. They’d mill around on the other side until 5AM and then go home.

[Rutabega]

I admit to having only my first sip off coffee, but I have to ask someone—do the police make a habit out of announcing to the public the dates of when they are planning an undercover sting operation? If so, what’s the arrest rate on that type of operation? It seems unbelievably counter-intuitive.

[Verginius Rufus]

When I saw the headline, I thought Prince George is just a baby--how could he be the target of a prostitution sting?

But the story is about a county named for an earlier Prince George.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

but critics said documenting the sting would harm innocent people who had not been convicted of crimes and drive sex workers further underground.

[Mental image of prostitutes trolling Luray Caverns for horny tourists.]

Maryland "Freak State" PING!

[Albion Wilde]

The sting “took place over several hours in the southern part of the county,”

Capitol Heights, Anacostia, etc etc