Article Originally Published 8/5/2013
The public shaming of prostitution offenders by city government was first initiated in Oklahoma City after the idea was presented by then City Councilwoman Francis Lowrey after she became aware of similar successful efforts in Kansas City, MO. in 1997.
In February of 1999 the Oklahoma City Council unanimously agreed to begin airing the mugshots of individuals charged in Oklahoma City/County with crimes related to prostitution public lewdness. The effort was dubbed ‘John TV.’
Initially Municipal attorney Bill West would only agree to publicly shame individuals charged with soliciting or engaging in sex for money. Those charged with public lewdness related to homosexuality in public parks were not included – even though many public officials felt those individuals should be publicly shamed also.
“A lewd act is a lewd act, whether it’s prostitution or whether it’s homosexuals in a park,” Mayor Kirk Humphreys said. “It takes away property owners’ rights to enjoy their property, and it takes away the public’s right to enjoy their parks.
“You won’t find a whole lot of people taking their kids to certain parks in this city… because the homosexuals have taken over. And I find that every bit as offensive as prostitution on South Robinson.”
The first airing of OKC’s John TV was in March of 1999 with the publication of the identities of seven individuals.
The show immediately gained local, national and international attention from the media.
Along with the support came criticism from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union who compared the city’s efforts to persecution depicted in the 19th century novel “The Scarlet Letter.”
John TV aired twice each Wednesday on Cox Cable public access channel 20 (CityVue).
John TV was a coordinated effort of members of the Oklahoma City police, city attorney and the city public information office.
It was estimated that the cost to tax payers to produce John TV was $457 per week.
The process for compiling the mugshots for public display were as follows;
- Oklahoma City police compile the names of individuals charged with prostitution-related crimes from the municipal court’s system that maintains records of citations and arrests. Charges must have been filed before the names and photographs can be broadcast. The list is then submitted to the OKC Vice unit.
- OKC Vice will then obtain a photograph of each individual and contact arresting officers.
- Arresting officers will confirm that individuals in the photographs were the people they arrested.
- The vice unit then will send electronic computer mail files with the photographs, names and charges to the city’s public information office.
- Public information workers will then transfer the computer files to the city’s video bulletin board software for broadcast on Channel 20. They also will make one last check to make sure the information on the screen matches a printout of the original files.
Each person identified on John TV had their mugshot, name, arrest date and criminal charge displayed for 20-seconds on a loop for the entirety of the 15-minute broadcast. The show could handle up to approximately 45 mugshots.
John TV was updated every two weeks with new information if available.
In the first two months John TV aired the identities of 42 people charged with prostitution-related offenses.
In June of 1999 the Oklahoman reported that John TV would be expanded to include individuals charged with all types of lewd acts, not just those involved in prostitution. City council members also requested that John TV include those charged with keeping or leasing a house for immoral purpose, public indecency or obscenity.
In January of 2000 the Oklahoman ran an article entitled, ‘John TV’ credited for drop (by Robert Medley).
In that article it was revealed that since the airing of offender mug shots that prostitution related arrests in Oklahoma City had dropped by about 25% over the same period of time the year before.
JohnTV.com’s own Video Vigilante Brian Bates was also interviewed for the article.
Bates commented that he did not feel the city’s version of John TV was effective because it only aired on cable television. “It brought out more awareness of the problem at first. But not everyone has cable television. I bet most people wouldn’t even be able to tell you what channel it appears on if you ask them,” Bates was quoted as saying.
Four years after it began, the plug was officially pulled on the city run shaming effort. The last group of prostitution offenders was broadcast in early March of 2003.
“There were more females than males, and we kept seeing a lot of the same people,” said Oklahoma City spokeswoman Marsha Ingersoll.
The scrolling and repeating mug shots of disheveled streetwalkers helped would-be customers identify prostitutes, the spokeswoman said. “It was almost a promotional thing for them. It wasn’t a deterrent at all,” Ingersoll said.
Spearheading the effort to cease the public shaming was then Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys who felt John TV gave Oklahoma City a bad image.
It should be noted that the city did not conduct any research or studies to come to their conclusion that resulted in the termination of John TV.