Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 4:24 a.m.
LAS VEGAS has become the nation's premier party town -- no question about it.
Tourists are flocking to Sin City to live out their vices because they know, as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is fond of telling them in national television ads, "what happens here stays here."
The LVCVA ads capture the essence of what Las Vegas is becoming -- a city bursting with opulent topless clubs that allow strip-tease artists to offer you more than just a lap dance; outcall services that will send an "entertainer" to your hotel room; and massage parlors that will give you more than a massage.
But the reality of the Las Vegas being marketed today is leading to an unadvertised special, a rise in prostitution.
Sheriff Bill Young and his overwhelmed vice detectives are seeing more prostitutes on the Strip than they've seen in a long time.
Cops will tell you that the working girls have become more noticeable everywhere you look -- in the casinos and even on the streets.
It's been more than 20 years since a sheriff acknowledged prostitution was a problem on the streets. The late Sheriff John Moran got elected in 1982 with a campaign pledge to rid the Strip of street prostitution, and he promptly followed through with his pledge after he took office.
In those days, Las Vegas was on the brink of marketing itself as a family destination. It was fine to discreetly send a call girl to a high roller's room at Caesars Palace, but it was a different matter letting a lady of the evening solicit Joe Sixpack outside the Flamingo Hilton in front of his kids.
For a sheriff to single out a prostitution problem in today's adult-oriented environment, you know things have to be getting out of hand.
It's at least bad enough for Young to start appealing to the megaresorts to give police more help.
"The hotels have to step up," Young says. "In my opinion some could be doing a better job."
That means being more proactive about spotting prostitutes loitering on their property and alerting police.
Casino security chiefs understand that they could be doing more, and they say they're willing to work more closely with police.
But when you market the Strip as a place where anything goes, you've got to wonder how committed the hotels really are to reducing our prostitute population.
For the visitor, perception is reality.
The megaresorts on the Strip now are competing to fulfill your sexual appetite. They've produced X-rated strip-tease shows to lure you away from the topless clubs, and they've opened glitzy nightclubs with scantily dressed cocktail waitresses and go-go dancers to keep you hanging around into the early-morning hours.
The resorts also seem to welcome with open arms the hundreds of working girls throughout the West who pour into Las Vegas almost weekly to feed off special events, such as championship boxing matches or big-time concerts.
These girls come in droves and work 24-7 because they also know that "what happens here, stays here." If they're busted on misdemeanor prostitution charges, they pay a $200 fine, a small cost of doing business, and are back out on the streets the next day plying their trade.
The reality is that a rise in prostitution may be just the beginning of the social ills we're creating for ourselves, as we continue to encourage Americans to indulge in their vices here.
What's next on the Strip? An increase in drug use? Suicides? Thefts? Violent crime?
We better get used to hearing about these problems because they all are coming, if they aren't already here.
They are the costs of doing business in Las Vegas that tourism officials aren't advertising.
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