Day One of New Anti-Hooker Law Nets 10 Arrests

Santa Ana police said Friday that 10 women were arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitution during the first night of enforcing a new city ordinance aimed at eliminating prostitutes from Harbor Boulevard.

The crackdown on prostitutes along one of the county’s busiest thoroughfares began Thursday night as a special team of Santa Ana officers patrolled the street, enforcing an ordinance that prohibits drivers from stopping along a stretch of Harbor between 4 p.m. and 9 a.m.

Santa Ana Police Lt. Hugh Mooney said the special team of officers would be out on the streets again tonight and possibly Sunday night as well.

Mooney said that as of 9:30 p.m. Friday, no arrests had been made, an indication that the ordinance may be working.

“According to the officers in the field, there seem to be fewer people out there,” Mooney said. “It may just be a one-night fluctuation, but it could be that the ordinance and the publicity surrounding it are working.”