ABC 10News is not giving exact locations to avoid attracting more activity to the affected areas. From the wee hours of the morning to noon and night, ABC 10News cameras caught prostitutes peddling sex in the middle of the street and a steady stream of johns driving through.
The booming illegal sex trade has taken over neighborhoods where people live and work. People told 10News stories of being chased with a knife and johns grabbing women and trying to pull them into their cars. Every father, mother and business owner Hunt spoke with told her the same thing. This needs to stop right now! We got kids. They want to play outside, and they can't," said a man who lives in the affected area. Neighbors told Hunt they can't walk to and from their cars on the street without enduring the nuisance, intimidation or harassment that comes with this crowd.
Playing their music, you know, bumping and just doing their thing, laughing partying and sometimes they come and fight," another person told ABC 10News. Business owners in Barrio Logan and Shelltown are fed up with the impact on their businesses, the safety of their employees and the conditions nearby families have to deal with. Business owners can leave, but they have to deal with this everyday," one of the business owners said. They described seeing groups of prostitutes in the middle of the street harassing people, standing in front of vehicles and even trying to open car doors during the early morning and at night.
You can see solicitation going on with young kids playing football in their front yard," a business owner said.
This business owner also said prostitution has nearly tripled in the area since Jan. The Safer Streets For All Act, in an effort to prohibit officers from confronting and arresting trans women and women of color, repealed the law that made loitering for the purpose of prostitution a crime. We've seen shootings down there, we've seen stabbings," Chief Nisleit said.
