The Region - News from Nov. 17, 1986

A two-night sweep of prostitution activity in a North Hollywood commercial area resulted in the arrests of about 40 men for soliciting sex from undercover officers, Los Angeles police said. Members of a police task force posing as prostitutes and potential customers worked the area of Sunland Boulevard and San Fernando Road, Sgt. Gary Hallden said. Most of the arrests were of men who had offered undercover female officers money in exchange for sex. Several arrests were also for narcotics possession, Hallden said. The task force was established after police received complaints from several local business owners who said the area is rampant with prostitution activity in which women customers are often harassed by men who assume they are prostitutes.