Sheriff seeks to add masturbation to the legal definition of prostitution

Maj. Shawn Kimmitz says deputies know “it” is happening.

In fact, we’ve reported on “it” just last year when the Stafford County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance making it illegal for massage parlors from performing “happy endings.”

• Last year, the department said it was watching 11 massage parlors in the northern section of the county that were performing the acts for customers.

Now, Kimmitz said the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is working with the county’s lobbyist to go to the General Assembly in Richmond in January to push legislators to add performed masturbation to a list of offenses that warrant a prostitution charge.

• Right now, deputies can only charge someone with prostitution if the suspect engages in the traditional act of sex, said Kimmitz.
• Without “masturbation” in the code, officials are unable to successfully prosecute cases.
• And that means deputies won’t make arrests, despite the fact they know it’s happening.

The sheriff’s office is also again this year pushing for changes to the training requirements for school protection officers.

• These officers are usually law enforcement officers who have retired and opted to come back to work in the county’s elementary schools.
• The law requires them to go through training in order to take the school protection officer position.
• The sheriff would like to have that training cut from 20 weeks (standard for a new recruit heading into law enforcement for the first time) to six to eight weeks.

“This cuts things like DUI enforcement from the training process,” said Kimmitz. “Their sole objective is to protect students at the elementary school level.”

Stafford now has three school protection officers in elementary schools.

• The officer positions were funded shortly after a mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. in 2018.

The General Assembly convenes for its 2020 session on January 8.

• It’s a 60-day session, double the length of this year’s session.
• Legislators will be asked to pass a biennial budget.