On 06 Mar 2022, Lefty Lundquist <lefty_lundquist@ggmail.com> posted some
news:t0309l$98j$7@dont-email.me:

> Rob Bonta failed to do his job and launch objections to this horrible
> left-wing criminal sponsored law. How do such things even get passed
> in a so-called "civilized" state? Scott Wiener should have very bone
> in his body broken.

Police warn prostitution will bring other crimes ranging from robberies
to shootings

Women wearing thongs in broad daylight on street corners, pimps
following mothers taking their kids to school, and prostitutes twerking
at traffic have become common scenes in California.

Local leaders claim human trafficking and prostitution are rampant in
the Golden State after a new criminal justice reform that its author
said aims to protect transgender women from being unfairly targeted by
law enforcement.

"It�s absolutely out of control and dangerous � not just for the sex
workers but for the community," San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen
told the San Francisco Chronicle this week.

A road in the heart of San Francisco�s Mission District has become lined
with prostitutes and pimps, prompting city officials to install
barricades as residents sound off that not only do they feel less safe �
especially at night � but that they are worried about the women working
the streets.

"From the window right there, I�ll see three [people] ganging up on a
girl," one San Francisco resident told the Chronicle while pointing
toward a bay window that overlooks an intersection. "They�ll be hitting
her."

"I call the cops; no one comes. There�s nothing I can do," the
unidentified woman said.

The issue isn�t isolated to just San Francisco, with other major cities
such as Los Angeles and Oakland reporting the same.

Pimps in Oakland have reportedly stationed prostitutes outside a
Catholic grade school, where parents said they walk their kids to school
past women wearing next to nothing � or even naked.

"It's every day, during all periods of the day," mother Rosa Vargas told
ABC 7. Vargas claimed that pimps have even followed Vargas down the
street on a couple of occasions. Some of the prostitutes look very young
and are likely underage, according to residents and local leaders.

Police departments and Republican leaders in the state are pinning blame
for the overt prostitution on a new law that went into effect on Jan. 1.
Senate Bill 357 repealed a previous law that banned loitering with the
intent to engage in prostitution.

"California Democrats' policy of legalizing crime is creating more
victims by the hour," GOP Assembly leader James Gallagher said in a
statement.

"Under Democratic rule, families and businesses are moving out, while
human traffickers are moving in," Gallagher added. "It was clear from
the get-go that this law would encourage and enable human trafficking,
but that was apparently an acceptable result for the lawmakers who
backed it."

The original bill was introduced by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener,
who argued it will protect transgender women whom he said are
disproportionately targeted by police.

"[The previous law] allowed police officers to arrest a person, not
based on what they did, but based solely on how a person looks," Wiener
recently told KGO-TV. "So, an officer could arrest someone because they
were wearing tight clothing, high heels and extra lipstick."

Wiener stressed to Fox News Digital earlier this week that prostitution
and human trafficking issues have long plagued certain areas of
California, and he called what people are seeing in Oakland
"unacceptable." But he stood by the reform.

"The police's hands are not tied," Wiener told local media. "They can
arrest people for soliciting, they can cite vehicles that are stopped in
the middle of the street, they can arrest �johns,� they can arrest pimps."

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), which is one of the
largest and oldest direct service providers for sex and labor trafficking
survivors in the U.S., threw its support behind the bill and told Fox News
Digital that it endorsed repealing the former policy "because we know that
reducing the criminalization of survivors will help prevent human
trafficking."

"Traffickers rely on our systems to criminalize victims so that they are
unable to access safety due to their records and are vulnerable to
continued exploitation," Leigh LaChapelle, CAST's associate director of
survivor advocacy, told Fox News.

"The impact of these encounters with law enforcement reinforce already
heightened stigma when someone is arrested for this offense due to the
difficulties securing employment and safe housing with an arrest record
relating to the sex trade," LaChapelle added. "Violation of this
discriminatory law also puts immigrants in jeopardy of deportation, loss
of residency or denial of reentry due to a misdemeanor conviction."

LaChapelle noted that the law has only been in effect for little over a
month and said leaders in the state "need to look at the larger, long-
standing systemic issues that are contributing to any potential rise in
trafficking in California, such as homelessness."

But Los Angeles police sources who spoke to Fox News Digital said the law
is "definitely" handcuffing them from cracking down on prostitution. The
police said that because of the reform they can only make arrests if a
suspect admits to prostitution, which they said is a rarity.

L.A.�s Figueroa Street, also known as "The Blade," has become inundated
with prostitutes and pimps, according to the police. Law enforcement
officials provided social media accounts to Fox News that showed young
women wearing thongs and fishnets, often with their breasts exposed while
standing � and even twerking in broad daylight on street corners.

Police said with the emboldened prostitution rings come robberies,
shootings, aggravated assaults and other crimes. Many of the pimps are
gang-affiliated and take no issue with beating women or going after rival
pimps who try to poach one of the workers, they said. Some even record the
beatdowns because they "think it�s funny," police said.

The Oakland Police Department told Fox News Digital that the new law "now
hinders officers' enforcement across the state."

Prior to the law going into effect, the department�s "traffic unit and
patrol officers conducted high visibility patrolling," noting that the
officials� "hope is that the increased presence in different areas by
these officers deter activity and do not revictimize those who are victims
of human trafficking."

LaChapelle argued that police still have "many points of intervention
available" to "investigate trafficking without arresting those who have
not committed a crime," and they said that "jail is not outreach, and it
certainly is not services."

"Using arrest as a gateway to receiving services is harmful and creates
distrust in our communities," LaChapelle said. "One thing that CAST has
heard from our clients on countless occasions is that being arrested was
not only traumatizing and revictimizing but created insurmountable
barriers to seeking employment, safe housing and immigration relief."

Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas has been focused on
human trafficking issues in her district since 2019, when she took office.
She told Fox News Digital that she is working on the root causes of human
trafficking and to not simply move the prostitution rings to another
community.

"It's a big issue. It's an issue that impacts many communities in
California and outside California and has been going on for decades,"
Fortunato Bas said. "And so my approach has been to look at a
comprehensive approach that includes law enforcement that is focused on
the exploiters."

She said she has zeroed in on exploiters and highlighted that the police
department is working with the district attorney's office to build up
enough evidence for prosecution. The city has increased the budget for its
Department of Violence Prevention to deploy more violence interrupters on
the streets, she added.

Her office has also worked to install speed bumps and better lighting on
certain streets and launched other "Crime Prevention Through Environmental
Design" initiatives, such as traffic diverters.

"Violence prevention and the outreach to offer victims services, including
housing, job training, even food, as well as working with the district
attorney to provide more protection for victims who are willing to speak
out" is paramount in her fight against human trafficking and women being
exploited, she said.

LaChapelle added in a comment to Fox News Digital that the issue of
funding amid discussions on prostitution and human trafficking need to be
taken into account.

"In June of 2021, the California legislature passed CAST�s $30 million
request to fund human trafficking victim service providers over three
years," LaChapelle said. "This additional $30M came at a time when numbers
of urgent human trafficking cases are at an all-time high.