Arrests Make Little Impact : Battling Prostitution: Just ‘Keeping Lid On’

Combating the inexorable flood of prostitutes in Los Angeles has frustrated almost everyone involved.

Prostitution-related arrests in the city have increased from about 3,500 in 1974 to 6,800 last year. And Sheriff’s Department arrests in the county have almost quintupled from about 2,000 in 1974 to more than 10,000 in 1984. But the arrests have made little impact on prostitution.

“With about 100 vice officers in the city, we’re not going to stamp out prostitution in a city of 3 million people,” said Arthur Sjoquist, a police captain in the Van Nuys Division. “We aren’t kidding anyone. All we can do is keep a lid on it. But if you take your eye off it, it’ll go totally out of control.”

A prostitute crackdown in Hollywood three years ago is an example of the endless task faced by authorities.

Hollywood was a mecca for prostitutes in the early 1980s, and crowds of women could be seen openly soliciting on Sunset Boulevard. Then, law enforcement agencies and the city attorney’s office instituted a plan to curb the problem.

A computer was installed at the Hollywood Division station to keep track of repeat offenders. The city attorney cracked down on “hot sheet” motels, and police arrested women for “public nuisance” offenses such as creating traffic congestion.

Bail, Sentences Toughened

Bail was raised and sentences were toughened as well. A first-time offender for misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution now is fined up to $250, and there is mandatory jail time of usually 45 days for a second offense.

The crackdown was extremely successful and many prostitutes left the area.

But one community’s solution became another community’s problem.

Many prostitutes who had worked Hollywood simply moved to Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards in the San Fernando Valley, South-Central Los Angeles, Anaheim and other parts of Southern California, police say. As a result, the prostitution problems in those cities immediately worsened.

“The district attorney complains that every time we crack down in the city, they get them in the county,” said Annette Keller, an assistant city attorney and chairwoman of a city-wide prostitution task force. “In a little city you may be able to run them out of town, but not someplace as big as L.A.”

Street crackdowns also have pushed more women into “indoor” prostitution--escort services, massage parlors and “outcall modeling” agencies, said Lois Lee, director of Children of the Night, an organization that aids teen-age prostitutes. The ads for outcall prostitutes in underground newspapers “have increased 300% since the crackdowns in Hollywood,” she said.

Although the indoor business represents more than 66% of all prostitution in Los Angeles, the majority of the women arrested are street walkers, estimated one vice detective.

Street walkers are a blight on a neighborhood and precipitate complaints from residents and merchants, so more law enforcement resources usually are allocated to clean up the streets. And it is easier to arrest street walkers than call girls or outcall prostitutes. A police “sweep” on a Friday night can bring in dozens of women; arresting outcall prostitutes takes more time and greater police resources.

Prostitutes Getting More Savvy

Although street crackdowns have been effective in some neighborhoods, it is growing increasingly difficult to arrest savvy hookers. Many now avoid suggesting a sex act for a specified amount of money because they know those are the necessary elements for an arrest. And some ask potential customers to expose themselves to eliminate undercover officers.

As a result, a Los Angeles prostitution task force composed of police and city attorneys is advocating changing state law to allow undercover officers to ask prostitutes to engage in sex acts and then arrest them if they agree.

“My personal view is that prostitution is not something that can be cured by the criminal justice system,” said Arthur Walsh, a Los Angeles deputy city attorney and member of the prostitution task force. “It’s a social reality. But my job is to see that the laws are enforced.”

But, Walsh added, street walkers should be prosecuted because many other crimes are associated with street prostitution, which can destroy neighborhoods. As a result of the crackdown on street prostitution in Hollywood, the incidents of reported prostitution-related crimes such as assaults, robberies and pickpocket thefts were reduced from 485 in 1982 to 81 in 1984, Lt. Art Lopez said.

Other cities have similar problems with prostitution. In 1984 there were about 19,000 prostitution-related arrests in New York City and 14,000 in Chicago.