Council Considers Ways to Fight Prostitution : Santa Monica Seeks Tougher Massage Law

The Santa Monica City Council will consider a law Tuesday night that officials say will prevent the city’s 11 licensed massage establishments from using massage as a cover for prostitution.

Officials said the proposed law would require massage establishments to be closed from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. and would require all doors to remain unlocked for police inspection during business hours. It would prohibit the use of videotape and sound equipment inside and would require owners to provide a separate sink and toilet for each client.

It also would require employees to be fully clothed and wear identification cards and would prohibit them from touching the genitals of clients.

Applicants for city massage licenses would also have to pass a new written examination on massage techniques and hold a diploma from a state-approved massage school.

Santa Monica currently requires applicants for massage permits to pay a $100 fee and pass both a written and practical massage examination administered by the city of Los Angeles. In addition, applicants must submit to police five character references and the results of a physical examination showing that they are free of communicable diseases. The fee and references also would be required under the new law.

The proposed law is being presented to the council more than two years after City Atty. Robert M. Myers asked the city to revise its existing ordinance governing massage establishments. The city at that time placed a freeze on all new massage licenses until the ordinance was updated.

Those who already have massage licenses would not be required to have a diploma or take the new test. Also exempted would be individuals who are members of professional associations and organizations that have massage education standards and who had to pass professional examinations to join.

Thirty-nine individuals have massage licenses in Santa Monica, police said. They include employees of health professionals such as chiropractors and of the city’s massage establishments, health spas and beauty parlors.

Myers said that if the law is approved, massage permits will be more difficult to obtain for the less-trained massage technicians whose work is more likely to include sexual activity.

“The law has two purposes,” Myers said. “It provides greater support for lawful massage technicians to (operate) in Santa Monica, and it makes it harder for those who engage in prostitution under the guise of massage to operate in the city.”

“The link between massage establishments and prostitution is well established and recognized by the courts,” he wrote in a report to the council. “It is clear that the legitimate business of massage can easily be diverted to prostitution, necessitating careful license review and effective inspection procedures.”

Police say the new written examination will be their best weapon against illegitimate massage because it is stricter than the Los Angeles test used currently. The department hired a consultant to create the new test, which includes questions on anatomy and physiology.

“We figure they won’t be in business without a very high probability of their being legitimate because of the test,” Police Chief James Keane said. “It will greatly reduce the possibility (of prostitution).”

He added, however, “I’m not so naive to think we can eliminate prostitution.”

The law was submitted for approval last November, but the council returned it to Myers after hearing a variety of objections from massage technicians and owners of massage establishments.

The new law would also affect “outcalls”--massages performed in a private home or away from a licensed establishment.

All outcalls are prohibited under the existing law. The new law would prohibit all outcalls to hotels and would forbid massage technicians who work for businesses involving massage, such as health spas, beauty parlors or chiropractors, from making them. Independent technicians would be allowed to make outcalls.

Robert Davis, an attorney representing 10 massage businesses in Santa Monica, conceded that prostitution does exist in some massage establishments “but just to say that all massage parlors (are fronts for prostitution) is a disservice to many of these places. A lot of cities perceive something that isn’t there.”