ST. LOUIS • City police are reviving a push to target — or perhaps humiliate — those prowling the streets for prostitutes.

“Johns” charged with trying to pick up prostitutes will receive postcards by mail admonishing them for their crime, giving reminders about spreading sexually transmitted diseases and listing their court dates.

“Thanks for your visit to...” the bright postcards say, leaving a spot for the location and date of a crime. “The city of St. Louis, its residents and your neighbors would like to remind you that lewd, lascivious and/or suggestive behavior (including but not limited to prostitution, solicitation and prostitution loitering) are a violation of city ordinance and state law.”

The penalty for solicitation, a city ordinance violation, is often no harsher than paying a fine. So police hope the postcards serve as an attention-grabbing deterrent to johns.

Police are rolling out the program this week in two city neighborhoods — Carondelet and Holly Hills — where residents have complained of prostitutes trolling for tricks.

“If there weren’t customers, prostitutes would be out of business,” said St. Louis Police Capt. Dan Howard. “And what we’re looking to do is put them out of business.”