By: E&P Staff Libby Averyt, editor of the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, believes the decision of one of the paper's reporters to pose as a prostitute, as part of a police operation that led to two arrests, was a mistake.
"Having a reporter become involved in law enforcement activities was a mistake and will not happen again," Averyt said in an article in the paper. "The thought was to try to give our readers an inside view of a new police initiative, and unfortunately we didn't think through the situation as well as we should have.
"For us to maintain our watchdog role, we should not get involved in law enforcement activities and will not in the future."
Corpus Christi police conducted a sting operation on clients, or johns, soliciting prostitutes Dec. 13, prior to launching a Web site that will display the names and mug shots of those charged. It resulted in four arrests in all.
The Caller-Times had contacted the police department to see how the operation worked, firsthand, the first time it was run. Police Chief Pete Alvarez agreed to let reporter Venessa Santos-Garza pose as an undercover prostitute.
"We fully support Venessa and the enthusiasm with which she does her job, and she went about this with the knowledge of her supervisors," Averyt said. "She did nothing wrong. She let her supervisors know in advance about the sting and her role in it. After further discussion, it was concluded that this was not the way we want to go about gathering information. We made a mistake in judgment, and it's why we have not and will not run a story with information gathered that day."
Caller-Times attorney Jorge C. Rangel said he is not aware of any court action that has been filed against the individuals arrested.
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