In the biggest sting of its kind, Cook County police have made 76 Chicago-area arrests using Craigslist's Erotic Services section as their dragnet — the fourth such sting in an 18-month-long investigation. In an interview with CBS 2 Chicago, Sheriff Tom Dart accused Craigslist of operating "a free advertising network for prostitutes and pimps."

The segment is worth watching as a study in how mainstream media covers the "virtual red light district" — and Dart plays right into CBS's hands. Like every other local law-enforcement agent who moves his vice department from street patrol to desk duty surfing sex ads, he's pushing the theory that shutting down Erotic Services might actually make his job easier. Mostly pointless public relations attempt or no, the sting is being sold as a way to protect women and children, and no one is going to argue with that — lurid hotel room footage of alleged prostitutes being shown on TV or no.

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