Community Collaboration at The Buffalo John School

1
Community Collaboration at The Buffalo John School

• Jacquelyn Andula RN, BSN, and Cecelia Kohlmeier,
  RN, MSN
• The Erie County Health Department, Preventive
  Health Services,
• Buffalo, NY

2
Community Individuals Involved

• The Erie County Health Department
• The Erie County District Attorney
• Project Reach
• Former Prostitute
• Drug and Sex Addictions Counselor

3
The Erie County Health Department

• Presents a health component at The John School
• Leads a lecture and discussion on Sexually
  Transmitted Diseases
• Stresses the unknown danger of STDs to sexual
  partners
• Presented by Jacquelyn Andula,RN, Public Health
  Nurse and Educator

4
The Erie County District Attorneys Office

• Arranges attendance at The John School with the
  courts
• Informs Johns of their legal rights in a class at
  the John School
• Offers most Johns an ACD after attending the John
  School
• Presented by Michael Drmacich, Assistant District
  Attorney

5
Project Reach

• Provides a lecture and discussion about HIV and
  AIDS
• Provided by a male NY State Certified HIV
  counselor in a man to man manner
• Provides education in a harm reduction model
• Presented by William Smith

6
Former Prostitute

• Provided by the same individual every class. She
  is co-director of the school
• Speaks about her experiences as a prostitute
• Explains how she felt about the Johns
• Explains that she has been HIV infected for
  sixteen years

7
Drug Sex Addictions Counselor

• Provides information on the cycle of addiction
• Explores sex and drug addictions
• Explains the connection between sexual abuse as a
  child and addictive behaviors later in life
• Presented by Eli Pollinger, MSW and co-director
  of the John School

8
Two Major Components

• Operation Johnny
• and
• The John School

9
Operation Johnny

• History In 1996 at the request of the
  Prostitution Task Force the Buffalo Police
  Narcotics and Vice Unit began a sting to combat
  street prostitution.

10
Operation Johnny (cont)

• Male and female undercover detectives were
  assigned to arrest both prostitutes and their
  male counterparts known as Johns.
• This was to be a long term commitment not just a
  quick fix.

11
The John School

• Johns attend at request of the court
• Their fee of 100 covers all of the schools
  expenses. They may be allowed to pay less by a
  judge
• After completing the eight hour class they are
  normally granted an ACD--the charges are
  dismissed if they commit no crime for six months.
• The school costs approximately 1200 a month to
  run

12
Why We Are Different

• The John School has a non- threatening manner
• The attendees are treated as students and
  encouraged to get as much out of the day as
  possible
• Strong focus on health and effect on
  neighborhoods
• Refreshments are served
• Students are not belittled

13
Results of Operation Johnny

• Arrests increased six-fold
• Calls to 911 were reduced by nearly 50
• The District Attorney and the courts established
  alternative sentencing
• Only available to first time offenders

14
Affects of Operation Johnny and the John School

• Recidivism Rates decreased
• Those arrested for solicitation had a recidivism
  rate of 8
• Those allowed to attend the John school had a
  recidivism rate of 0.0068

15
Difficulties Encountered

• Having all city court judges agree with the
  sentencing program
• Contract dispute between the Buffalo Police Union
  and the Department led to The New York State
  Police providing the decoy
• Low school attendance can cause a financial
  shortfall