Fighting prostitution on the web

Seminole Heights, Florida ? You'll see them dressed in hot pink pants with tiny halter tops covering very little skin.

Some wear thigh-high leather boots with spiked heels as they sashay over to idling cars, quoting customers a price.

Some are men, some are women.

All are prostitutes. They conduct their ?business? along Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, mainly between Hillsborough Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive.

It happens every night starting roughly at midnight continuing on until dawn, and sadly sometimes through rush hour where children can watch.

Residents say they've had enough.

?It's very visible, it's very visual, and that's part of the problem. Some mornings when I take my daughter to school when they're still out,? Bill Metler says.

Metler is the coordinator for the neighborhood watch association and says he's embarrassed when he sees what's happening to the streets near his home. So, he and his neighbors are doing something about it. They are patrolling with Tampa Police to combat the prostitution problem.

But, some of Metler's neighbors say Tampa Police are not doing enough. They have started an online blog where they are sounding off daily. To view that blog, click here.

Police spokesperson Laura McElroy says, those participating in the blog are not seeing the whole picture, ?We're trying to come up with a new way to address an old problem in this case it's the prostitution in the Seminole Heights area. We're working with residents and trying to figure out new ways to tackle this issue.?

In the last month alone, Tampa PD has made 17 prostitution arrests and continue to start their shifts on a community leader's porch so that officers have a visible presence in the area.

Metler says the neighborhood ?roll calls? are successful, where officers are up close and personal on residents' door steps, ?It kind of sends a message to the perpetrators that [police] are here and they're supportive of our neighborhood.?

But, McElroy admits that more needs to be done. She say more residents are welcomed to join the neighborhood watch patrol where people travel in their own cars through nearby streets and call police as they see problems.

Officers say they enjoy seeing residents take an active interest. Metler tells us he knows many of them by name, as they frequent his neighborhood on patrol.

Tampa Police are having a meeting Monday at 6:00 at the District 3 location on 22^nd Street. Seminole Heights neighbors and others are welcomed to join. To read more information citizens' patrols on the Tampa Police website, click here.