NYPD Cuts Back on Craigslist Cops
craigslist
Craigslist has earned a reputation as a place to find apartments, cheap furniture and prostitutes.
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The NYPD quietly put the kybosh on the Vice Squad that successfully patrolled Craigslist for prostitutes and sex offenders, according to a published report.
Despite it's success, the Vice Squad Craigslist program ended 18 months ago, The New York Post reported.
The NYPD denied the timing of the shutdown. A new commanding officer thought the squad was a "waste of resources" and ended the program three years ago, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the paper.
The squad had been credited with making several cash-for-sex arrests in every borough of the city, sources told The Post. Officers would regularly set up meetings in hotel rooms with prostitutes found on the popular Web site and then make arrests. The squad would generally conduct one or two stings per night.
The Post's exclusive report comes one day after Queens teenager John Katehis admitted to police that he killed former WABC newsman George Weber after answering a Craigslist ad for rough sex. Katehis, 16, allegedly stabbed the radioman during a "violent, drug-fueled assault," according to the The New York Daily News.
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