Bid to Fight Prostitution Hits a Snag : Street crime: Judges reluctant to impose strict probation conditions recommended by prosecutors in West Hollywood.

West Hollywood officials and law enforcement authorities say their efforts to combat prostitution are being thwarted by Beverly Hills Municipal Court judges who are reluctant to impose strict probation conditions recommended by prosecutors.

The district attorney’s office, working with the city and the Sheriff’s Department, has recommended nine conditions to restrict the activities of convicted prostitutes within a so-called prostitution abatement zone on Santa Monica Boulevard between Fairfax and La Brea avenues.

Probationers would be prohibited from sitting on any bus bench without boarding the first bus that arrives. They would not be allowed to stop and talk to occupants in parked cars. Nor would they be permitted to wave to passing motorists or use similar gestures that could be interpreted as an act of solicitation.

Other conditions would prohibit probationers from loitering on streets, alleyways, sidewalks and parking lots, and would require them to carry valid California identification at all times--to be presented to sheriff’s deputies upon request.

Deputies could photograph probationers if it appeared they had altered their appearance. The pictures would be used in a file on repeat offenders.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Allan S. Tyson asked the court to impose the conditions this month after the Sheriff’s Department conducted sweeps along Santa Monica Boulevard that yielded more than 50 arrests.

But the four judges and one commissioner at the court have resisted imposing the conditions as a package, saying they don’t think a blanket policy would pass a constitutional test. Three court members have been willing to apply limited versions of the two conditions relating to loitering and identification. Only one judge has been willing to use more than three of them.

“You’d think the court would want to be part of a community effort to combat crime,” said a frustrated Nancy Greenstein, the city’s public safety coordinator. “We’re trying to work within the system. But it’s clear from neighbors that this is a desperate situation.”

Prosecutors argue that the conditions would make it easier for authorities to keep repeat offenders off the streets. Sheriff’s deputies could arrest probationers--even if they have not committed an illegal act--for violating any of the conditions. If found guilty, they would face a maximum six-month jail sentence.

Sheriff’s officials also say the measures are necessary because current penalties are failing to deter prostitutes from plying their trade. Although first-time offenders face a maximum six months in County Jail, they are sentenced to five days on the average, of which they usually serve three days, according to judges at the Beverly Hills court. County inmates typically serve about half their sentences, the judges note, because of state and federal orders that set limits on the jail population.

Even so, prosecutors say the increased risk of arrest combined with the specter of a minimum 45-day sentence for a second offense will stop hustlers from returning to their haunts.

“We need to make it unpleasant and unprofitable for people to engage in this type of activity in West Hollywood,” Tyson said.

East-end residents welcome the measures as a hard-nosed solution to a problem that is growing worse literally at their doorsteps. They have long insisted--and city and sheriff’s officials have concurred--that prostitution makes the area unsafe partly because it invites a host of ancillary crimes, including drug dealing, robberies and violent assaults.

Local business groups say the perception of increased crime has scared customers and prevented West Hollywood’s shoddy east side from prospering like the western half of the city.

But the court’s outgoing presiding judge, Charles G. Rubin, said the probation plan would effectively strip the judges of discretion to weigh facts and circumstances of individual cases, including a defendant’s prior criminal record and conduct during the alleged crime.

“The law says that we cannot impose illegal conditions of probation just to accommodate a socially beneficial purpose,” Rubin said. “We are interested and sensitive to the community’s concerns, but we will only address them in a legal manner.”

The judge argues that the conditions fail to take into consideration legitimate reasons why probationers might temporarily return to Santa Monica Boulevard--whether for work, visits to the doctor or any number of other possibilities.

Like Rubin, Judge Elden S. Fox also sees problems with restricting behavior that is not illegal.

“Someone could be sitting on a bus bench because they are sick or tired,” Fox said. “I do not see how a deputy would be able to stop or arrest an individual unless that person was loitering or engaging in some other form of criminal activity. The challenge for us is to use conditions that will pass constitutional muster.”

Neal Osherow, a deputy public defender at the Beverly Hills court, said the use of the condition on bus benches already has violated the rights of one of his clients. The man, who Osherow said was not engaging in illegal activity when he was arrested, was sentenced recently to 60 days in jail for returning to the area of his original crime. A condition restricted him from going within one-quarter mile of the place he was first arrested.

Osherow said many first-time offenders are likely to agree to the strict conditions in exchange for a lighter sentence without realizing the consequences.

“They are unable to appreciate the position they may be putting themselves in,” Osherow said. “Once they’re out of jail, they tend to forget about the conditions of their probation.”

Tyson, of the district attorney’s office, insists nonetheless that the conditions are constitutional because they are tailored to specific areas and acts.

Rubin said that the conditions will be discussed at the judges’ next meeting in January but that no sentencing policies would be set.