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Prostitution taints Schenectady name

By MARV CERMAK
First published in print: Tuesday, July 14, 2009

While traveling through the heart of Schenectady recently with my wife, we couldn't help notice five prostitutes working a three-block area. For many years, seeing one here and there was common, but not the comparative saturation.


Prostitution proliferation is disturbing because it puts a label on a town. Before we could get concerned over the new development, cops two days later arrested 11 street hookers. Within days after that sweep, police picked up a half-dozen johns.

Sgt. Eric Clifford said some of the women were repeaters. He said the sweep also netted four or five new faces. Most of the women are drug addicts using prostitution to support the habit.

Assistant Police Chief Brian Kilcullen said prostitution is difficult to eradicate because the crime is only a misdemeanor. He said the maximum sentence is 90 days in the county jail.

"The prostitutes just keep getting recycled,'' Kilcullen said. "Some of them have been arrested a half-dozen times or more.''

Clifford said the department's Special Investigations Unit, a reorganized version of the old vice squad, is staying current on prostitution so the situation doesn't get out of control.

I recall the '70s when downtown Schenectady had wall-to-wall hookers. The problem became so rampant the late District Attorney John Poersch and a well-known clergyman were propositioned while parked at a traffic light.

Back then, City Councilmen Tom Isabella and Gordie Light were also solicited after a late-night City Hall meeting.

After an in-depth investigative series by the old Knickerbocker News, a police crackdown cleaned the streets.