City Changes Tack On Prostitution After A Night In Jail, It's To Be Straight To Morning After Court.

Is it an innovative approach with a twist, or simply a dressed-up idea that looks and sounds good but raises some legal questions?

The news last week that the city will establish a special prostitution court to handle a quality-of-life crime that has spun out of control in certain communities was welcomed by those directly affected by the problem.

Under the initiative - touted as Morning After Court - suspected prostitutes will be detained overnight in police district holding cells after an arrest for a summary offense, such as obstructing the highway, and taken before a judge the next morning. In court, repeat offenders will receive mandatory prison time, but most will be referred to social service agencies, such as drug rehabilitation centers.

``It has a different edge to it,'' Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Zappile said about the plan, to start around Jan. 1. ``It's more than just arresting these women, it's also having the judge say, `We know you need help,' and force them to get help.''

In the last five years, prostitution has shifted from being a Center City nuisance to a neighborhood problem. Among the areas now most affected are neighborhoods off Kensington Avenue, in the lower Northeast, Southwest Philadelphia and South Broad Street.

Morning After Court is intended to make significant changes in the way the criminal justice system deals with prostitution. Suspected prostitutes would be fingerprinted and photographed, just as other defendants are. The record of outstanding bench warrants and ``failures to appear'' will be scrutinized to determine whether jail is in order.

Zappile said Morning After Court would focus on prostitution arrests made between midnight and 8 a.m. It will be funded by the federal $4.9 million ``Quality of Life'' grant the city just received.

Zappile said he expected costs, such as overtime, to be minimal since officers on the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift will be working their regular hours. Municipal Court Judge Seamus McCaffery, who is volunteering his services to the program, said he would start work an hour earlier, at 7:30 a.m., to preside over court at the Criminal Justice Center.