Police officers in Hawaii are urging lawmakers to pass a bill that aims to reduce prostitution, but with one stipulation: they want to keep in an exemption that allows them to have sex with prostitutes during investigations. 

Hawaii lawmakers are currently debating the law, which is being harshly criticized. 

The new bill, which cracks down on prostitution, originally eliminated the exemption for on-duty officers, the Associated Press reports. But the bill has since been amended to restore it after police officers testified in favor of the exemption. 

The amended bill passed the state House, and will go before a Senate committee Friday.

Police say the exemption helps them catch the prostitutes in the act, but human trafficking experts say the exemption is unnecessary and further hurts the sex workers, who are usually forced into their positions. 

Some former prostitutes reported that they were often forced to do sexual favors for policemen, who threatened to arrest them if they did not perform the acts. 

Critics of the exemption say that it is not possible for every cop using the exemption to judge every prostitute's situation, such as her real age, and whether or not she has been forced into that situation. They assert that police could often end up taking advantage of sex workers, which outweighs the potential benefits of the exemption.

Even in the absence of such exemptions, police officers in other states have been accused of abusing prostitutes. In Philadelphia, a former officer is being charged for allegedly raping two prostitutes and forcing them to do drugs at gunpoint. An officer in West Sacramento, Calif. was found guilty of raping prostitutes. 

However, the officers in Hawaii say the exemption does not encourage inappropriate conduct. 

"All allegations of misconduct are investigated and the appropriate disciplinary action taken," said Michelle Yu, Honolulu police spokeswoman. However, laws in Hawaii block the public from seeing whether an officer has ever faced disciplinary action for having sex with a prostitute. 

During the testimony, law enforcement officials said they would not say how often they use the exemption, saying it would compromise future and ongoing investigations. 

"As it is, we are already subject to 'cop checking' where prostitution subjects do certain acts or attempt to do certain acts to determine whether the person is an undercover officer," Major Jerry Inouye of the Honolulu Police Department said. 

Democratic Rep. Karl Rhoads, who amended the law to include the exemption, said civilians do not understand what goes into undercover police work.

"It's a really murky area," Rhoads said. "I was reluctant to interfere in something that they face all the time."