by Jack Lee
Prostitution thrives when enforcement is light: As you may recall Vallejo was one of the first cities in California to declare bankruptcy. This resulted in massive layoffs and about 1/3 of the police personnel were let go.
The most direct result of this layoff was a spike in street crime. Vallejo is an old sea port and they’ve always had a problem with street walkers, but it’s never been this bad. The St. Vincent Hill district is overrun with prostitutes and John’s trolling their streets.
The abundance of hookers has resulted in a supply and demand issue and that has driven prices down, starting at $6 – which is coincidentally the going price for one rock of cocaine. The word gets around fast and this gets more Johns on the scene; the lack of enforcement attracts more girls and the cycle continue.
It’s a sick industry, literally. The diseased prostitutes are often mentally ill or suffering from extreme mental issues of abuse, many are addicts. How sexy is it to buy 10 minutes from a diseased or mentally disabled woman? And what does this say about the men who solicit them or make money off them? Have they no sense of decency, self respect and no empathy? That’s a rhetorical question, because we all know that answer.
This is no victimless crime: Just ask the residents who live there. Home prices have fallen right along with the increased crime and prostitution. The oldest trade is making it difficult to get rehabilitation loans for run down houses and buildings. And then there are the squats, abandoned home used to turn tricks.
If it was legalized wouldn’t this solve the problem? Almost certainly not and the reason is simple. There are professionals and there are all the rest, all the rest won’t wind up in a licensed facility. They do however inherit an air of legitimacy because of their slightly elevated counterparts working in a licensed house. And then there are the Johns who would rather pay $6 for a 15-17 year old runaway or druggie than $60 for an adult woman under license.
One way to solve it is with a task force and saturated enforcement, but the prostitution problem isn’t being solved, its just pushed out of one community to another and it starts all over again. Sad.
This is serious because once this begins
the johns can become violent!!!
We have a problem close to us and its not
summer yet and they are already showing signs
of growing violence and it will grow believe me!
Sadscene, you are right, it is a problem that is getting worse. The girls get beaten up and sometimes the Johns get terrible STDs. The people involved in the trade either belong in an institution, hospitalized or in jail, but they shouldn’t be out on the streets selling themselves.