Dear john, we're watching: St. John's neighbours step up anti-prostitution effort

By day, a few city blocks in downtown St. John's are best known for the iconic and high-minded buildings that dominate the skyline: the Newfoundland Supreme Court, the Anglican Cathedral and Gower Street United Church.

By night, the action is neither saintly nor legal.

Residents of the area around Duckworth Street and Church Hill have long complained that prostitution is marring their neighbourhood.

Now, however, residents are stepping up their efforts by taking notes about the customers, and turning information about possible johns over to the police.

"These cars that we notice, these johns that are picking up the girls, we've started to note the time that they're stopping, the car, the licence plate number," said one resident, whom CBC News is calling Roger, to protect him from reprisals.

Facebook group gets info on johns

That information is being relayed to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

"We're issuing that to the RNC and this is what the RNC actually requested us to do," Roger said.

One area resident has even set up a group on Facebook, the social networking site, in which members are encouraged to post information about johns' vehicles, including partial licence plate numbers.

Roger said the neighbourhood is being negatively affected.

"There's a church right across the street. I've heard of parishioners actually being approached," said Roger.

"I've spoken to several lawyers who have their offices on Church Hill and apparently between 4:30 and 5 p.m., you have their clients are being approached by these girls, because it's dark now at [this] time of winter," she said.

Roger said he has seen drivers from all walks of life pull over in the neighbourhood. The customers are almost always men, he said.

The man Roger assumes is the pimp of women in the neighbourhood operates from the steps of a local church, he said, where he can keep on eye on his business.

Bob Johnston, deputy chief of the RNC, said police are well aware of problems with prostitution in downtown St. John's, and said charges are being laid.

'Perception may not necessarily be reality'

In one well-publicized case, Newfoundland Supreme Court convicted Shawn Newman of living off the avails of prostitution. One of the two young prostitutes who turned over her income to Newman worked a sidewalk directly across the street from the courthouse, one of the best-known buildings in downtown St. John's.

Johnston warned, though, that people should not make assumptions when they see people having conversations on the neighbourhood's streets late at night.

"Sometimes perception may not necessarily be reality," Johnston said.

"I don't want to get into specifics of somebody watching an individual, thinking that they're orchestrating or running a prostitution ring. I think we need to be very careful in making that assumption."

Johnston said that while residents should be observant in their own neighbourhoods, those actions should not turn into vigilantism. He said it takes a full police investigation to determine if a crime has been committed.