FIGHTING CRIME WITH INNOVATIVE PREVENTION

December 18, 1990

Orlando Sentinel

FAKE HOOKERS DISTRIBUTE AIDS LITERATURE

Associated Press

Neighborhood volunteers trying to discourage prostitution are posing as hookers and handing ''johns'' literature about AIDS.

Wearing heavy makeup, furs and other streetwalker garb, residents of the Uptown neighborhood, one of Chicago's seediest, have been flagging down men in the middle of the night to spread the word about the risk of disease.

Uptown has the city's second-highest number of people with AIDS, with about 500 confirmed cases, the city health department says.

''We're not proud of the AIDS designation,'' Alderman Helen Shiller said. ''But we're going to use it to chase the (prostitution) business out of here.''

About 25 volunteers are taking part in the effort, though not all are dressed as prostitutes.

Police doubt the month-old program will have any effect and said it may be dangerous.

''Once a john is in a car with a girl, I don't think he's going to be inclined to read any literature,'' Sgt. Robert Sarnowski said.

''And if anybody is dressing up as a prostitute, I'll be the first to say that they're nuts. That's our job, undercover work.''

Dr. David Ostrow, director of the Midwest AIDS Behavioral Research Center, called the program ''a novel use of what we call 'on-site marketing' - giving AIDS information right to the consumer right when they can use it.''

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