 At the time , Tampa was rated the worst U.S. city for syphilis infections among USAAF personnel , and the city with the most rampant prostitution . USAAF Captain Robert Dyer , charged with protecting the country 's airmen from venereal disease ( VD ) , had no success getting Tampa authorities to address the problem . When Streett arrived at his command and saw the extent of the VD crisis at MacDill Field , he threatened to close certain areas of Tampa to all military personnel if the city 's police were unable to curb prostitution . This action would have ruined a number of legitimate local businesses , and a campaign was initiated to arrest prostitutes and to bar unmarried couples from renting a room together . Police arrests , however , were limited to misdemeanor charges of vagrancy or loitering — there were no state or local laws specific to prostitution . In response to complaints from Streett and other military leaders , in January 1943 Florida 's Department of Health mounted a statewide media blitz encouraging testing and treatment for VD . Later that year , the state passed a law giving police wide latitude to arrest prostitutes for hire and also unmarried persons participating in " licentious sexual intercourse without hire . " 
