When news first broke over the weekend that there was a "crackdown" on prostitution in the Town of Tonawanda, reaction was swift from both sides of the aisle.

Various web stories were filled with commentary from the predictable, "legalize it, tax it, control it" group as well as from the folks in the moral majority. (Are they even a majority anymore, or is that name outdated)?

The police lined up and took credit for working to keep the streets clean, safe and friendly as they passed out tickets to most of the 10 individuals who were charged as part of the two-day bust and the community was supposed to be left with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Before you digest the news and move on, there are two distinct issues that you, the taxpayer, might want to think about as you hear more about such crackdowns.

First, am I the only one who notices the gross bias in these stings? Almost without exception, when these stings take place, it is the prostitutes who are arrested. Rarely do you see their customers pinched. In this case (as in most of them) a sting is set up where individuals posing as customers call the number in an ad, set up a meeting and the women are then arrested.

Don't believe me? A recent study found that roughly 80,000 people are arrested in the United States annually as part of sexual solicitation. Of those arrested, only one in 10 is the person buying. This of course has me wondering why an ad isn't placed, and when men call, set up the meeting and then arrest them? I have my own thoughts, and the beauty of a blog is that I get to share them.

If women are arrested, they are too often viewed as the drug addicts, the dregs of society, the individuals low enough to sell their bodies to strangers. There isn't a lot of sympathy for them. Sweep them off the street, and life goes on, business as usual.

Arrest the customers, and its a whole other story.

When the Johns are targeted in cities across America (back in Boston, where I am from, it was done regularly) those arrested are doctors, lawyers, public officials, businessmen and the movers and shakers in the city. Out them in the newspaper and you have job losses, divorce, shame brought upon companies and organizations and in general, a much greater fallout.

In the end, a value is placed on the individuals. The ones arrested are those for whom less regard is given, while the customers are left alone.

Issue number two involves the half-hearted approach local officials take when it comes to the issue of prostitution. It is not up to me to vote to legalize it or not. But the fact is, as things exist today, there is a limbo. On the books, prostitution is illegal. It is a crime both to sell and to buy. Yet there is at least one publication in Buffalo that on a weekly basis is filled with ads for "escorts."

Alongside the escort ads you will find all of the massage parlor ads. You may recall these as a popular target for raids a few years back, again, with the women being targeted and the clients largely given a free pass. Shut down a half dozen sex parlors, splash it across the papers and feel good. Six months later, new ones have take their place, but we won't talk about that.

Then there is Craigslist. The free online classified ad site took some heavy heat after at least one woman selling her services on the site was murdered by a client. Bowing to intense pressure, the company removed its "erotic services" listings last year, with opposition groups saying they were nothing more than ads for prostitution.

Today, pay a visit to Craigslist's Buffalo page and ads that appear to offer all of the sex you want, with a variety of different combinations and twists, are prevalent. Granted it is thinly veiled under categories such as "casual encounters," but it took me all of five minutes on Google to be well-versed on how to find play for pay.

The police know these ads exist, because they are the very ads they cite when it is time for one of the dog-and-pony show raids or crackdowns. So, the question then is, why are they allowed to exist? If prostitution is such a drain on our society, shut down every massage parlor, go after every ad on Craigslist, not just a select few and pursue every classified listing that appears in local newspapers. Arrest the prostitutes, but arrest the customers as well.

Yet that isn't done, and it is the great hypocrisy behind this issue.

If communities are going to vigorously pursue cleaning up the problems that come with this sort of activity, then do it. But to make an occasional effort, while largely turning a blind eye to what is occurring everyday, is weak.

I say crack down. Take the time to read the profiles of those who are routinely arrested and you see a sad pattern of women (and often teenage girls) who have been sexually abused, come from broken homes, are hopelessly addicted to drugs and alcohol and are trying to survive in the only way they see possible.

There are countless studies you can read examining the dark underbelly of the life of a prostitute. For every girl that visits an Eliot Spitzer-type in an upscale hotel, there are hundreds ... thousands walking the streets, knocking on a door with no idea what awaits them on the other side, just hoping they survive until morning.

One study, based in Chicago, found that the average prostitute in the Windy City earns $25 an hour. Better than ringing a register at 7-Eleven, but when you consider that same study found that the prostitute suffered a dozen serious beatings from customers annually and engaged in more than 300 unprotected sex acts each year, the money doesn't look so good.

To allow the ongoing sexual exploitation of these women in the name of "two consenting adults making a business transaction" (an argument that is often made), is wrong.

Having said that, it doesn't matter what I think, or what you think or what anyone thinks. It is illegal, it is a crime and it should be prosecuted. But it should be done zealously and fairly, and right now, it is not.