Police Ask Residents to Help Drive Out Van Nuys Prostitution

Prompted by continuing complaints of prostitution on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, the Los Angeles Police Department said it will try to drive out prostitutes by citing them for minor infractions and by encouraging measures by local residents and business operators.

At a meeting Tuesday night organized by community residents at a retirement hotel on Sepulveda Boulevard, police suggested that residents install additional outdoor lighting to discourage prostitutes from working in lots and alleys, and pressure local hotel managers to deny rooms to suspected prostitutes or their clients.

Police said a two-person uniformed team, modeled after a similar unit in Hollywood, would be assigned to the street. That will bring to five the number of officers working full time on Sepulveda Boulevard between Roscoe and Victory boulevards, said Sgt. Bob Freet.

Two plainclothes vice officers have been patrolling the area and a third undercover officer was assigned to the area last week.

They have made 51 prostitution-related arrests since July 18, about 35% more than the usual number for a two-week period on the boulevard, said Pedro Ugarte, one of the undercover officers.

Discussion at the community meeting repeatedly focused on the legality of efforts to drive prostitutes off Sepulveda Boulevard.

Confronted with frustrated residents who said police were not doing enough to fight crime in the area, Ugarte stressed that police “have rules and laws that we have to follow” in arresting prostitutes.

But Ugarte told hotel managers that they could refuse service to customers whose actions suggested that they were engaging in illegal activity, and he encouraged the managers to monitor their clients closely.

One hotel manager, however, expressed concern that he would expose himself to lawsuits if he tried to prevent people who looked suspicious from renting rooms.

“We are on a very thin line,” said Sajal Debnath, manager for the past four years of the Voyager Motor Inn on Sepulveda Boulevard. Debnath argued that hotel owners who are reluctant to screen their customers subjectively are not necessarily supporters of prostitution. “The officers sometimes think it’s encouraging it,” he said. “It’s not encouraging it. But we have to protect ourselves from lawsuits.”

Still, Debnath said he usually is able to tell by customers’ actions whether they are engaged in prostitution. “It’s the way they talk,” he said. “The way they throw the money in the face.”

Luka Souza, who works at the Starlite Motel on Sepulveda Boulevard, said her hotel began last month to remodel its 10 rooms and raise its rates to discourage prostitutes. She said the higher prices, combined with the fact that employees at her hotel are very selective about who they allow to rent a room, has “really been a deterrent.”

Prostitution has been a problem on Sepulveda Boulevard for more than a decade, and police have staged several crackdowns in recent years.

Residents said the severity of the problem changes with the police attention given to it. “It operates in cycles,” said Charles Erdell, manager of an apartment complex on Sepulveda Boulevard. “I’ve seen it happen over and over again that way. When the police make their presence felt, the amount of prostitution goes down.”

Prostitution is prevalent on Sepulveda Boulevard partly because the volume of cocaine in Los Angeles has attracted drug addicts--many of whom turn to prostitution to earn money--from northern cities such as Sacramento and Portland, Ore., said Lori Anderson, one of the three undercover officers who patrol Sepulveda Boulevard.

In addition, Anderson said, police crackdowns elsewhere in Los Angeles have pushed prostitutes into Van Nuys.