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Anyone driving at night on Michigan Avenue around Livernois and Central in Detroit may have seen them -- women in miniskirts and low-cut tops. The Wayne County Sheriff's Office calls them Hollywood hookers.
Law enforcement officials say they are seeing a sudden influx of pricey, out-of-state prostitutes on Michigan Avenue, even as stretches of the street are torn up by road maintenance. Officials suggest national sporting events in Detroit -- this summer's All-Star Game and the coming Super Bowl -- mean more money for prostitutes, and hookers are staking out their turf.
Sgt. Bonnie Sutton of
the sheriff's special operations-morality unit said deputies have issued as many as 20 citations per week recently on Michigan Avenue. A typical week's total before was about seven.
Detroit police also are stepping up enforcement. Officers targeted out-of-state prostitutes in late August and arrested 28 women, plus two men accused of being pimps, police spokesman James Tate said.
All were ticketed and released on bond, he said.
"The word is out all across the United States," said Sutton. "They know to come to Detroit's strip to make money."
The out-of-towners stand out from local prostitutes in big ways, law enforcement officials say: First, they dress glitzier, earning the nickname Hollywood hookers from some deputies. Second, they are less likely to be hooked on drugs. Law enforcement officials say addictions lead many local prostitutes to the streets.
There's a price difference, too: The out-of-state prostitutes charge more and can earn up to $1,000 a night. Local prostitutes sometimes earn just enough to get their next drug fix, Sutton said.
One night last month, sheriff's deputies stopped three women who at first claimed to be club hopping.
After some questioning, they admitted they were prostitutes from out of state.
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/hookers19e_20050919.htm
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