STANTON : Officers Assigned to Prostitution Patrol

The city’s two foot-patrol deputies, who were hired to combat drug dealing, will work occasionally in cruisers with regular patrol officers and vice deputies to curb prostitution that has apparently increased in recent months.

The City Council this week approved the idea after Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Eason reported that the number of prostitutes on Beach Boulevard has increased to as many as 40 on some nights, although the prostitution problem has not reached what he called “panic levels.”

“This doesn’t even compare to the ‘80s,” Eason said, referring to a period in the mid-1980s when prostitution was such a problem in Stanton that sheriff’s deputies were called in to help the city’s Police Department, which merged with the Sheriff’s Department in 1988.

The plan was angrily denounced by Councilman David John Shawver, who said that the foot-patrol officers would be diverted from their drug-suppression duties and that a better solution would be to hire more officers.

“We are continuing to spread ourselves thinner and thinner,” said Shawver, the lone dissenter on the council. “We don’t even have enough police to patrol the neighborhoods.”

Eason attributed the recent increase in prostitution to several factors, including the summer season and the elimination of cruising traffic officers in Stanton. The city’s decision to shift traffic deputies to foot patrol to curb drug activity eliminated a more visible police presence on the main streets, Eason explained. He added that officers traditionally notice an “upswing” in prostitution in midsummer and midwinter.

Eason also said Stanton has seen an increase in “circuit girls,” or transient prostitutes. “It’s just our turn right now to get them,” he said, adding that on some nights there are no prostitutes at all on the streets.

Assigning the walking, drug-suppression officers to double duty as patrol-car officers won’t cost the city any additional money and should effectively curb prostitution, Eason said.

“We’ll get this under control,” he said. “We’re catching it early enough. We think this is going to make an impact.”

Most of the council agreed with his assessment and praised deputies for their crime-fighting efforts, which resulted in a small dip in crime over the past year. But Shawver angrily responded that Stanton remains one of the highest-crime cities in the county.

“I can’t believe you’re sitting here and telling me we’re doing OK,” Shawver said, his voice rising to a shout. “That is a joke.”