Hawaiian legislators are considering making it illegal for police officers engaged in undercover activities to have sex with prostitutes, but the police would rather hang on to that right.
Currently, Hawaiian police officers who have sex with prostitutes as part of their undercover investigations are exempt from prosecution. That would have changed, however, if a proposed bill, HB 1926, had been approved.
The bill is intended to crackdown on prostitution. Hawaiian cops, however, objected to the change in the legality of sleeping with prostitutes. And thanks to the testimony of Honolulu Police Major Jerry Inouye, the bill was amended. Now, it will still be legal for cops to have sex with prostitutes if the bill passes, according to the Associated Press.
“The procedures and conduct of the undercover officers are regulated by department rules, which by nature have to be confidential,” said Inouye in a statement to the House Judiciary Committee. “Because 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.”
Another expert, police trainer Derek Marsh, disagreed with Inouye’s contention.
“It doesn’t help your case, and at worst you further traumatize someone,” he said in a statement. “And do you think he or she is going to trust a cop again?”
The practice of immunizing cops who have sex with prostitutes is “antiquated at best,” he said.
The state Senate will consider the bill Sunday.