Crackdown on Prostitutes Raises Some Legal Issues

Harbor Boulevard is one of Orange County’s busiest and best-known thoroughfares. At 1313 S. Harbor Blvd. in Anaheim you will find Disneyland. And, to the chagrin of merchants, residents and frustrated police, most anywhere else along Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim you will find prostitutes wandering along the street, flagging down cars.

Police in Santa Ana and Garden Grove have been under strong pressure from merchants and residents to drive the prostitutes out of town. But to make an arrest, police must catch a prostitute offering sex for money. So police in Santa Ana and Garden Grove are planning an easier approach. They want to be able to obtain court orders enabling them to bar from Harbor Boulevard women who merely dress or act like prostitutes. That way women can be arrested before they actually solicit a customer. All they have to do is look like a streetwalker.

Not to worry, though. Santa Ana police say those most likely to be jailed would be prostitutes with prior arrests who would be known to the police, or those who have been warned about the restraining order or crackdown.

That is convenient for police, but there are legal and constitutional problems with arresting someone who hasn’t actually committed a crime. Would the next shortcut be arresting someone because he or she looks like a burglar? Or a reckless driver? And who decides whether someone is “dressed” like a prostitute?

We sympathize with the frustrations of police officers in their battle against street prostitutes, but no amount of frustration justifies arresting someone before he or she breaks the law. We can’t imagine a judge buying that approach. There are more effective ways to keep prostitutes off Harbor Boulevard, such as higher bail and longer jail terms for those properly caught and convicted.