Local : Judge Rejects Santa Ana Action to Curb Harbor Blvd. Prostitution

An Orange County Superior Court judge today rejected the city of Santa Ana’s unusual solution to curb prostitution along Harbor Boulevard, saying the city has failed to establish that the loitering women have done anything wrong.

Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald acknowledged that the prevalent prostitution on Harbor Boulevard between Sunflower and Westminster avenues has created “a serious problem” for residents of the area.”

But he rejected the city’s request to ban women thought to be prostitutes from coming within a hundred yards of the notorious strip, saying: “I cannot give you a solution. All I can say is keep trying, but this is not the right way to go.”

In the last several weeks, Santa Ana police have cited 116 women for suspected prostitution, notifying them that they may be subject to a possible civil ban from the street. For reasons they are at a loss to understand, police say, the action has proven a far more effective deterrent than previous criminal citations, and the strip has been relatively free of prostitution in recent days.

But McDonald ruled that such a drastic course of action could be tantamount to saying that “any attractive woman seen on Harbor Boulevard is assumed to be a hooker.”