San Diego’s police chief blasted a controversial new California law that cops blame for sparking brazen prostitution on the streets of cities across the Golden State.
The law that went into effect last month allows people to loiter with the intent of engaging in prostitution, Chief Dave Nisleit said – and that includes traffickers, sex buyers and sex workers.
“New state laws make recovering trafficking victims more difficult while emboldening their traffickers,’ Nisleit told reporters at a Tuesday news conference. “Your law enforcement officers are fighting an uphill battle when it comes to human trafficking.”
Local leaders in the San Diego area this week were celebrating a successful month-long investigation into human trafficking and prostitution that nabbed 48 arrests and identified 41 suspected victims of trafficking and sex exploitation. Among those rescued were children, including one girl who was only 13 years old.
“It needs to be repealed,” the police chief said of the new law. “We’re talking about a young lady who, by the age of 13, has fallen victim to this. How many more victims do we need to have in sex trafficking before we realize this is not a good law? We can address the disparities in a different manner.”
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Nisleit added said he is planning to “formally request” the law be repealed.
Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener authored the law, which he said aimed to protect transgender women allegedly disproportionately targeted by police. The law took effect on Jan. 1 and repealed a previous law that banned loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution.
“[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.”
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