Slick, high-dollar escort services such as one New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly used in Washington D.C. are not just an East Coast thing.

 Open the Yellow Pages or go online in Kansas City and there about three dozen companies offering escorts. They may not cost as much as the $4,300 Spitzer apparently paid but can still run $500 to $3,000, according to advertised rates online.

 Three escort services took out quarter-page ads in the current Kansas City Yellow Pages and others have Websites showing pictures of available women.

The companies sell their services as “discreet”, “prompt”, “classy”, “upscale” and “courteous”. Some offer either men or women. They are located in the city, the suburbs and near the airport. Many say they will take either cash or credit cards. Sometimes, they draw police attention.

   A reporter called several escort services today. With one exception, no one who answered the phone wanted to talk about their business. One woman identified herself as “a dispatcher” and said the reporter should call back Monday.

But a man who takes calls for an escort service based in Midtown was willing to talk, as long as he wasn’t identified. He said his service offers strictly escorts, not prostitutes, but he said he is familiar with both businesses.

Eighty percent of his clients are businessmen from out of town, he said. “They have lots of cash, stay at expensive hotels and come in for conventions or business meetings,” he said. Some 60 to 70 percent pay by credit card, he said.

Customers typically pay $300, with $200 going to the woman and the rest to the service, he said.

Women who work as escort prostitutes generally walk away with $600 to $1,000 in fees and tips in Kansas City, the man said, adding that he was not referring to women for his service because he said they are not prostitutes.

On one national escort service Website, a woman who called herself Aspen listed her Kansas City fees as $500 for one hour, $1,200 for three hours and $1,500 for four hours. Another woman listed her rates here as $3,000 for four hours and said she didn’t have a one-hour rate.

A Kansas City detective in the vice unit said prostitutes in general typically charge closer to $150. One women advertising on Craig’s List listed a fee of $150, another $200.

Escort services are no secret to police, who occasionally make arrests. In 2002, police from 20 law enforcement agencies arrested some 100 people on both sides of the state line in a prostitution sting.

Police went after escort service customers by placing ads with phone numbers that actually rang to investigators at police headquarters. Undercover officers arrested customers at hotels or homes after they offered to pay for sex.

Investigators also posed as customers and arrested escorts who agreed to perform sex acts for money.

Police said today they are aware of the prevalence of escort services in Kansas City and investigate them as time and staffing allow. Unfortunately, one officer said, prostitutes tend to turn around and go right back into business.