Pleasant Prairie Police Department

2007 New Releases Archive

03/21/2007 | Progress Seen at Tourist Information Center
(PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WI) Six years ago it was clear that there was a problem, especially at night at the Tourist Information Center. As is common at many highway rest areas, The Wisconsin Tourist Information Center located along I94 in the Village of Pleasant Prairie had become a night time gathering place for those seeking and engaging in casual sexual activity. And the Pleasant Prairie Police Department was receiving complaints.

“We were concerned.”, said Pleasant Prairie Police Chief Brian Wagner. “I can’t imagine what it would be like for a traveling family or a father taking his young son into the men’s room and finding men openly engaged in sexual activity there.” “What a terrible way to welcome people to Wisconsin.”, he said.

The Police Department applied the principals of problem oriented policing and working with the staff of Wisconsin Department of Transportation operated center, combined traditional law enforcement methods of heavy patrol and aggressive enforcement with common sense approaches such as limiting pay phones to outgoing calls and altering bathroom stalls to make interaction between them more difficult. This approach paid off almost immediately as the department observed a significant decrease in complaints. “Another factor which had a huge impact was the Village’s closing of the two adult bookstores along I94 in Pleasant Prairie.”, Wagner said. “In speaking with those that were arrested, it was amazing just how much of this kind of activity originated from those bookstores.”, he said.

While progress has been seen over the years, the problem has not totally disappeared and the police continue to work with the Center’s staff. In 2006 the department made six such arrests while in 2001 14 people were arrested for this activity. “Aggressive patrol and enforcement continue there and people need to think twice before engaging in inappropriate activity and the potential harm and discomfort that such activity causes to innocent people who are exposed to it”, Wagner said. “If you don’t, there is a strong probability that you will be caught and arrested.”

An archived copy of this and other Pleasant Prairie Police Department News Releases is available on the department’s website at www.pppd.info.

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